The Transformation from Public Institutions to Non-profit Organizations——On the Accounting Reform of China's Higher Learning Institutions

Non-profit organizations should include not only those non-profit agencies run by the local people, but also those with government appropriations. Compared to enterprise accounting reforms, accounting reforms in non-profit organizations are retarded, and still possess the vestiges of planned economy system. Judged from the perspectives of accounting objectives, accounting entities, and accounting systems of reporting, the reforms cannot meet the needs of financial management. Accounting in non-profit organizations should mainly serve the needs of internal management rather than those of the government. And, the western practice of establishing various accounting entities according to different natures of funds should not be copied. Furthermore, the current two entities of governmental accounting and construction accounting should be merged into one. Finally, the system of accounting reporting should be reformed along the lines of current systems of enterprise accounting reporting.