The 15th Five-Year Plan for Accounting Reform and Development of China (with full text English translation)
Ministry of Finance, the government body oversighting the accounting work of the People's Republic of China, has issued a guiding plan of the accounting reform and development to be followed and achieved in the next five years, on October 23, 2026, via the Ministry of Finance notice Caikuai [2026] No. 13. The Plan is entitled "The 15th Five-Year Plan for Accounting Reform and Development of China".
The goal of this Plan, as mentioned in the Notice, is to "improve the level of accounting work, enhance the quality of accounting information, and promote better service of accounting work to high-quality economic and social development".
The full text of this Plan can be downloaded from the following link:
- Chinese version: PDF format (380.1 KB with outline).
- English translated version: PDF format (246.6 KB with outline).
Below is an outline of this Plan:
- I. Development Context
- (1) Major Achievements During the "14th Five-Year Plan" Period.
- (2) New Situations and Requirements During the "15th Five-Year Plan" Period.
- II. General Requirements
- (1) Guiding Principles.
- (2) Basic Principles.
- (3) Main Objectives.
- III. Coordinate and Advance the Development of a Sound Accounting Legal System
- (1) Continuously consolidate the foundational systems in the accounting field.
- (2) Strengthen the development of enterprise accounting standards and systems.
- (3) Improve accounting systems for government and non-profit organizations.
- (4) Advance the development of the sustainable disclosure standards system.
- (5) Strengthen internal control development.
- (6) Comprehensively deepen the application of management accounting.
- (7) Strengthen the development of CPA practice standards.
- (8) Promote the effective implementation of accounting laws and regulations.
- IV. Solidly Advance the Development of a Scientific and Reasonable Accounting Talent System
- (1) Improve the quality of talent training.
- (2) Strengthen high-end talent training.
- (3) Improve the talent evaluation system.
- (4) Broaden channels for the use of talent.
- (5) Advance the development of talent training platforms.
- V. Effectively Advance the Development of a High-Quality and Efficient Accounting Service System
- (1) Promote the high-quality development of the certified public accountant industry.
- (2) Promote the standardized and orderly development of the bookkeeping agency industry.
- VI. Continuously Advance the Development of a Collaborative and Efficient Accounting Supervision System
- (1) Severely crack down on financial fraud.
- (2) Improve the quality of CPA audit practice.
- (3) Strengthen internal supervision of entities.
- (4) Strengthen departmental coordination and linkage.
- (5) Deepen cross-border regulatory cooperation.
- VII. Systematically Advance the Development of an Innovative and Integrated Digital-Intelligent Accounting System
- (1) Establish and improve accounting and auditing data standards.
- (2) Promote the digital-intelligent transformation and upgrading of entity accounting work.
- (3) Promote the digital-intelligent transformation and upgrading of CPA auditing.
- (4) Improve the digital-intelligent level of accounting management work.
- VIII. Actively Advance the Development of an Open and Cooperative International Accounting Governance System
- (1) Comprehensively participate in the formulation of relevant international standards.
- (2) Steadily advance equivalence and mutual recognition of standards and the opening up of the accounting service market.
- (3) Continue to deepen bilateral and multilateral accounting exchanges and cooperation.
- IX. Accelerate the Development of an Accounting Knowledge System Rooted in China's Reality
- (1) Strengthen research on key issues.
- (2) Promote the development of the accounting discipline.
- (3) Improve the working mechanism for academic research.
- (4) Promote the transformation and application of research results.
- X. Safeguard Measures