Enterprise Financial Management Association of China

Standards Development

The Standards for Enterprise Financial Management are formulated to improve the capability and
performance of enterprise financial management, based on the realities of Chinese enterprises and advanced
practices and experiences of international counterparts and composed of three parts, i.e. the Framework,
Specific Projects and Application Guides.

Enterprise Financial Management Guidelines-Framework
(Exposure Draft)

Chapter 1 General Rules

Article 1 Enterprise Financial Management is the management and control of various financial activities following the flow of funds, designed to meet enterprise development strategy through resources deployment, decision-making support and value creation.

Article 2 The Guidelines are formulated in accordance with the Company Law of the People's Republic of China and other related laws and regulations, and applicable to all enterprises in China.

Article 3 The objective of enterprise financial management is to maximize the value of enterprises, and achieve mutual benefits among various stakeholders including the state, consumers, employees, partners and shareholders etc..

Article 4 The Enterprise Financial Management adheres to the following principles: strategy-focus, value creation, risk and return matching, balance of capital flows and innovation.

Article 5 The enterprise financial management includes the following areas: financial strategy management, financing, equity structure optimization, investment, capital operation, income distribution, human resources development, financial management organization and financial management evaluation etc..

Article 6 Enterprise financial management aims to improve the capability and performance of enterprise financial management through the development of guidelines. The guidelines, which are based on the realities of Chinese enterprises and advanced international practices and experiences, consist of the Framework, Specific Projects and Application Guides. The Framework is the general requirements of enterprise financial management which governs the Specific Projects and Application Guides. Specific Projects, derived from the Framework, are financial management subjects categorized in accordance with the financial management areas. Application Guides are model practices of financial management with generic significance and reference values, which are derived from actual experiences of enterprises in specific projects.

Article 7 The enterprise financial management defines the capital deployment strategy through the analysis of operation environment, macro economy, industrial or sector development and capital market trends. It also serves to improve modern corporate system and equity structure through the development of internal governance structure and operation mechanism.

Article 8 Financial risk management and control runs through various aspects of the whole process of financial management. It closely focuses on fund flows, timely identification and assessment of financial risks, balance of fund flows, and prevention of any fund flow cessations.

Article 9 Enterprises, making the best use of modern information technology, can develop big data platforms for financial management to achieve organic integration of fund flows, information flows, financial management and business operations, and improve the capability and performance of financial management through online operations.

Article 10 Enterprises can formulate and implement financial management rules in light of the guidelines and their financial management practices.

Chapter 2 Financial Strategy Management

Article 11 Financial strategy management, as the top design of financial management, refers to an overall, long term and creative planning of fund flows, to meet the needs of corporate strategy.

Article 12 Enterprises can select financial strategies that best fit their corporate development realities in light of the macroeconomic situation, industrial development and capital market status, while taking into account different corporate development stages and strategic management requirements.

Article 13 Financial strategy is implemented in line with the overall budget, which incorporates all economic activities of enterprises. The budget system is prepared, adjusted and approved according to established procedures, broken down into specific multi-layer targets and used as a basis for performance evaluation.

Article 14 Financial strategy is adjusted and improved at times required by environment changes of enterprises operations .

Chapter 3 Financing

Article 15 Financing refers to fund obtainment activities based on interests and claims of stakeholders.

Article 16 Enterprises should select appropriate channels and methods for equity financing and debt financing, maintain appropriate equity-debt capital ratio, take into account financing costs and keep stakeholders interests in proper balance.

Article 17 Enterprises should strengthen their links with real capitals, financial capitals and human resources capitals to promote industry-finance integration.

Article 18 Enterprises should pay close attention to the latest domestic and foreign financing products and methods, and prevent financing risks.

Chapter 4 Equity Structure Optimization

Article 19 Equity structure refers to the proportional structure of investors’ equities in enterprises.

Article 20 Equity structure is the foundation of corporate governance, which contributes to the development of a scientific management system and market orientated operations.

Article 21 Enterprises should develop a multiple-equity structure, to improve corporate governance and internal controls, make scientific decisions and achieve a sustainable development in accordance with modern enterprise system.

Article 22 The equity structure should be adjusted and improved as required.

Chapter 5 Investment

Article 23 Investment refers to economic activities of supplying funds and other resources to specific projects, which includes physical investment, capital investment and security investment.

Article 24 Enterprises can invest in single projects of specific areas in a certain period of time, or adopt diversified investment strategies and portfolios.

Article 25 Mergers and acquisitions are specific investment projects. Mergers aim at acquiring the control of shares of other legal entities and acquisitions target on redeploying resources of capital, assets, labor forces, technology and management etc., in order to achieve investment objectives.

Article 26 Specialized operation and management should be adopted in security investments including stocks, bonds, funds and futures etc..

Article 27 In feasibility study of investment projects and investment performance analysis, enterprises should focus on whether investment projects are strategically relevant to corporate development and financially viable.

Chapter 6 Capital Operation

Article 28 Capital operation refers to comprehensive financial management activities of enterprises covering all assets, liabilities and owners' equities.

Article 29 Enterprises should carry out financing, equity structure optimization, investment and business operation activities, take an overall control of capital operation processes, and allocate funds appropriately to keep cash inflows and outflows in proper balance.

Article 30 Financing and investment are closely related, as for instance, financing is employed to support quality investment projects and investment project approval requires to determine appropriate financing channels and methods.

Article 31 For operating cash inflows, enterprises should focus on operating income and receivables, carry out inventory streamlining and receivables servicing, explore asset securitization practices and improve asset performance and turnover. For operating cash outflows, enterprises should, in light of strategic cost management principles, pay attention to cost management, which targets on increasing revenues and market shares.

Chapter 7 Income Distribution

Article 32 Income distribution refers to division and allocation of total income in a certain period of time among various stakeholders, which includes employee salary and benefits, taxes and dividends etc.

Article 33 Enterprises should adopt appropriate and effective payroll system to maintain staff initiatives and keep corporate benefits consistent with staff interests.

Article 34 Enterprises should establish tax planning management system, which defines tax planning objectives, specifies control flows and risks, and maximize returns by reducing tax loads within the allowance of tax laws.

Article 35 Enterprises distribute due dividends to shareholders in accordance with the company law, articles of incorporation and actual income, to ensure the right returns for investors.

Chapter 8 Human Resources Development

Article 36 Financial management human resources are the operation body of financial management. The development of financial management human resources should be based on the “Outline of National Long-term Human Resources Development Plan (2010-2020)" and enterprise financial management guidelines, and employed to improve the overall qualities of enterprise financial management staff with the support of the Talent Pool .

Article 37 Human resources development provides continued education and standardized management on professional ethic values, performances and capabilities for financial management staff. It also regulates identification, training, evaluation, promotion and flow of financial management human resources to achieve a transition from accounting perspective to financial management perspective.

Article 38 The association establishes effective cooperation with enterprises, universities and other academic institutions, and brings financial staff of different grades, financial managers, supervisors, enterprise executives and university students of related disciplines into the human resources development system.

Article 39 General accountants or finance directors should be transformed into chief financial officers who are supposed to involve in major corporate decision-makings to be in line with international financial management practices.

Chapter 9 Financial Management Organization

Article 40 Financial management organization refers to the specification of financial management systems, institutional set-ups, separation of duties, work flow design and staffing etc..

Article 41 Financial management organizations should be appropriately planned in accordance with industry features, scales, functions, management system requirements and organization structures etc..

Article 42 Financial management organizations should be adjusted as required by internal and external environment changes and development trends to provide organizational support for the improvement of overall performance of enterprise financial management.

Chapter 10 Financial Management Evaluation

Article 43 Financial management evaluation refers to the comprehensive test and review of capability and performance of enterprise financial management.

Article 44 Evaluation indicator system should be designed in light of financial management strategy, financing, equity structure optimization, investment, capital operation, income distribution, human resources development, financial management organization etc.. It is used as a basis for the evaluation of enterprise financial management capability and performance.

Article 45 Big-data Platform of financial management should be constructed to develop the enterprise financial management index. Consistent rules, procedures and methods should be adopted in evaluating financial management capability and performance to insure that financial management evaluation is objective and impartial.

Article 46 Evaluation results can be used as a reference for decision making by investors, creditors, the general public, regulators and relevant government departments.

Chapter 11 Supplementary Articles

Article 47 The Financial Management Association of China is responsible for the interpretation of articles of the guidelines.

The Specific Projects are under development and will be gradually released.

The Application Guides are under development and will be gradually released.