The Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises promulgated by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on 30 November 1992 went into effect on 1 July 1993. The introduction of the Accounting Standards represents a milestone in the reform of China's accounting system, whereby classification according to ownership, industry and government department is replaced by practices in line with international accounting norms, such as debit-credit bookkeeping, categorization of accounting elements, accounting equation and financial statements. Internationally accepted accounting principles are also adopted, including the principles of prudence, manufacturing cost accounting and capital maintenance. In addition to these basic standards, China promulgated its first set of specific accounting standard in 1997 and MOF has issued 13 more specific accounting standards since.
