## Lise Mourier*

## Communicating fi  nancial reporting across continents

## Abstract

Financial  reporting  is  an  area  with  distinctive  terminology  characteristics.  High qua  ity  translations  require  both  language  and  specialist  knowledge. The  varieties  of English complicate the choice of language: British, American or international English? The  article  examines  the  challenges  translators  face  when  choosing  between  these 'Englishes'. To determine how/whether a theoretical approach and a proper translation pro  cess can result in higher quality, the article will look at translation tools and strategies, problem-solving activities and consistency in choice of terminology.

## 1. Introduction

Most Danish companies are required to produce translations of their fi  nancial data, primarily in English. Traditionally they have focused on UK English, but today an increasing number of Danish companies address the US and therefore need to communicate in US English. Several companies have adopted the International Accounting Stan  dards (IAS) 1 and prefer an international variety of English and - be  cause they address target groups outside the US and the UK - need to use English as a lingua franca, not particularly wishing to be US or UK biased. The re  cent enactment of a new Danish Financial Statements Act, which is widely based on IAS, has further shifted the focus to  wards international, IAS-based English.

Accounting is a challenging subject requiring much specialist background  knowledge,  and  fi  nancial  reporting  is  an  area  with  distinct

1 From 2001, new standards are referred to as IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards).

* Lise Mourier Associate professor Copenhagen Business School

145

ter  mi  nology characteristics. Therefore, high-quality translations in this subject  area  require  both  language  and  specialist  knowledge.  That it  is  impossible for a translator to translate a text he or she does not under  stand (Kurz 1988:424) highly applies to the complex subject of accounting. As Parker puts it: 'Understanding accounting terminology in  languages  other  than  English  thus  needs  to  go  hand  in  hand  with acquiring  a  knowledge  of  relevant  accounting  theory  and  practice' (Parker  2001:102).  My  fi  ndings  show  that  this  statement  is  indeed also  true  of  English,  given  the  numerous  varieties  of  this  language which further  complicate  the  translator's  task  when  translating  from Danish into English: Which English? British, American or international English?  It  is  the  translator's  responsibility  to  ensure  that  the  target text  (TT)  works;  the  consequences  of  mistranslations  are  many  and serious. Investors may make wrong decisions because of low-quality translations. Within this subject area, the choice of English variety is important as accounting terminology highly differs between UK and US English. International 'IAS' English is a mixture of the two, though with a strong US bias (see below). My observations are based on a text corpus  consisting  of  annual  reports  for  2001  in  Danish  and  English presented by Danish KFX companies listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.  The  corpus  contains  enterprises  in  reporting  class  D 2 to which the most comprehensive reporting requirements apply under the new Danish Financial Statements Act 2001.

My investigations show that translations of fi  nancial reporting are often  poor.  In  a  previous  paper  (Mourier  1996)  it  was  shown  that lack of background knowledge was the most serious reason for poor trans  lation quality, and that such knowledge is a prerequisite for high quality in accounting text translation. According to Gile (1995:86-87), translators can 'gain non-trivial understanding of the text or speech in spite  of  their  lack  of  specialised  knowledge'. This  applies  especially to  technical  texts,  as  Gile's  example  from  a  medical  textbook  also illustrates. In fi  nancial reporting texts, however, much is implied and the mere knowledge of terms is not suffi  cient to achieve high quality. With regard to accounting texts, I agree with Gile's translation model

2 Class D companies are defi  ned in the Danish Financial Statements Act 2001 to be listed or state-owned public limited companies (S.1 (4)).

(1995:102) from which it appears that extra-linguistic knowledge plays a major role in both the comprehension and the reformulation phases in the translation process. The translator will of course never audit or prepare fi  nancial statements. However, my fi  ndings 3  show that his or her extra-linguistic background knowledge must be at a fairly high level and  certainly  suffi  ciently  adequate  for  understanding  the  accounting subject matter in order to enable him or her to provide translations of a satisfactory standard. This view is also held by Parker (2001:102): '… translation is not simply a mechanical exercise of substituting a foreign language term for an English one. The translator needs a knowledge not just of terminology, but also of the fi  nancial and fi  scal systems in which companies operate'.

The role of language is important to Danish companies when they issue fi  nancial reports in English. Adequate communication to stakeholders requires that the translated text conveys the same message as the  source  text  (ST).  Language  is  part  of  the  company's  image  and a  means  of  communicating  important  messages  to  target  readers. Therefore, the choice of a particular variety of English will often be a management decision.

This paper will examine the importance of the appropriate type of English  in  fi  nancial  reporting  communication  and  some  of  the  challenges faced by the translator. It will conclude with a discussion of the methodology and tools available to the translator.

## 2. Challenges when translating into English

The obstacles to understanding company fi  nancial statements can be divided into (a) differences in accounting principles, and (b) linguistic (terminology) differences. According to Nobes & Parker (2000:427), even professional analysts fi  nd the language barrier a signifi  cant problem in international fi  nancial analyses. One of the objectives of IAS is to make it possible for company stakeholders to compare fi  nancial state  ments  across  borders  and  industries.  The  wording  of  the  IASC 4 objective is:

3   Two examples appear below.

4   The International Accounting Standards Committee.

'(a) to develop, in the public interest, a single set of high quality, understandable  and  enforceable  global  accounting  standards  that  re  quire high quality, transparent and comparable information in fi  nancial statements and other fi  nancial reporting to help participants in the world's capital markets and other users make economic decisions'. 5

Uniform rules are obviously helpful. As for language, however, uniformity  is  not  treated  in  IAS.  The  International  Accounting  Standards Board (IASB) has not adopted any language policy for uniform English terminology,  and  therefore  the  standards  refl  ect  the  English  used  by IAS authors: American, British, Canadian, etc., though, as stated above, with  a  strong  US  English  bias.  Therefore,  international  accounting English constitutes a variety of 'Englishes', and companies are free to choose whether to translate into UK, US or other types of English when applying the IASs. IAS English is discussed in more detail below.

Company policy differs as to choice of English: some companies are subsidiaries of American groups and are required to use US English as their corporate and reporting language; other companies may wish to signal their European origin by opting for British English. Others again wish to be global and ask the translator to translate into international English. The choice of variety is an important, strategic decision that should never be made at random, but indeed by management.

As a small country, it is essential that Denmark translates text material into English in order to reach an international forum. This also applies to fi  nancial reporting texts. Therefore, Danish translators are faced with the challenge of translating from their mother tongue into a foreign language, which is the opposite of what translators in other countries normally do. Danish translators must therefore have a very high level of  language profi  ciency in both Danish and the different varieties of English - together with specialist background knowledge of the subject matter  of  both  the  ST  and  the  TT  universes  (i.e.  language  areas). Together with extra-linguistic knowledge, a theoretical approach and a translation process with adequate strategies, problem-solving methods and  proper  tools  (parallel  texts,  dictionaries  etc.)  help  translators achieve high quality (Mourier 2000:128).

5   IASC  Foundation  Constitution.  Part  A:  Name  and  objectives.  IASB  CD-ROM edition, expiry in December 2002.

## 3. Isn't English English?

The framework and underlying principles in British and American account  ing  are  generally  the  same,  but  accounting  terminology  is  very different in the UK and the US. Some terms are different, but un  problematic in that they can easily be understood by the native US or UK user, and even by the non-native speaker of English  (see Figure 1). However, even if they do not result in comprehension problems, accounting terms in English should not be chosen at random. It may be detrimental to the image of the company (the sender) that UK and US terminology appear as a mixed bag.

Figure 1: Examples of unproblematic accounting terms UK/US English.

<!-- image -->

| UK debtors creditors fixed assets   | US receivables payables property, plant and equipment   |
|-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|

It  applies  both  for  TTs  that  are  operational  and  informative  that  terminology must be consistent and applied with care. The linguistic form is  an  important  parameter  in  successful  corporate  communications and expected to add quality to the corporate image. Sloppy language sig  nals  sloppiness  in  general  (in  delivery,  product  quality,  etc.).  The fi  nancial  text  genre  is  characterised  by  sensitive  language:  wording and terminology are carefully chosen in the source language and such choices must be mirrored in the TT.

Figure 2: Examples of problematic accounting terms UK/US English

<!-- image -->

Figure  2  shows  examples  of  English  terms  with  different  meaning depend  ing on their UK or US origin. The reason that I refer to such terms as problematic is that the use of a UK term in a US TT context may cause the TT reader to misunderstand the content. The UK term 'fi  nancial  year'  refers  to  the  accounting  year,  as  does  the  US  'fi  scal year'. However, in UK English, the term 'fi  scal year' refers to the tax year and not the accounting year. In the UK context, 'turnover' refers to goods and services sold, whereas in the US context, 'turnover' refers to the turnover of employees or creditors. US terminology applies 'sales' for goods and services sold. The UK term 'stocks' is equivalent to US 'inventory',  and  the  US  term  'stocks'  refers  to  securities.  The  term 'equity capital' is particularly tricky: equivalent to 'equity share capital' when used in UK English and to 'equity' when applied in US English.  It is imperative that the translator is aware of which terms are problematic to achieve high quality in the TT - a mixture of UK and US terminology may lead to serious misinterpretation of the text's message.

## 4. English benchmarking

As mentioned above, Danish companies are required to publish their fi  nancial reports in English to address their international stakeholders. What should be used as benchmark once the choice of English has been made? What is international English?

## 4.1.  UK and US English

British accounting terminology appears in the Companies Act of 1985, which determines the overall accounting rules, and in the Statements of Standard Accounting Practice and (from 1991) the Financial Reporting Standards that defi  ne  accounting procedures and concepts. American accounting rules are laid down by the Financial Accounting Standards Board  (FASB)  and  appear  in  the  FASB  Conceptual  Framework  and Statement of Financial Accounting Standards that include terminology defi  nitions (FASB 2000). Therefore, for UK and US terminology, adequate source material is available.

## 4.2.  International English

The obvious sources for international English accounting terminology are the IASs and IFRSs. 6   As already mentioned, the IASB does not have any distinct language policy as to which type of English terminology is to be employed and simply states that 'the approved text of any exposure draft or standard is that published by IASC in the English language' (IAS Preface, IASB CD-ROM). The 'Help' section to the CD-ROM edition appreciates differences between UK and US English: 'If you are familiar with US terminology or spelling please key in both the UK and the US word' (IASB CD-ROM). Terminology is clearly important to the IASB: key account  ing concepts (consisting of both UK and US terms) are defi  ned in a Glossary of Terms included in an appendix to the IASs, which is an extremely helpful tool to the translator. Here, the US or UK English terms are defi  ned as applied for IAS purposes. As IASs/ IFRSs draw heavily on the US FASB statements, there is a strong bias towards US English accounting terminology. However, spell  ing leans towards UK English, as appears from terms such as 'amortisation', 'realis  able' and 'labour', where US spelling has 'amortization', 'realizable' and 'labor'. The general importance of language appears from the fact that the translation into Danish of the standards 7  has been approved by the IASB as the offi  cial Danish translation. Therefore, the mix of US and UK English in IAS terminology seems strange (see Figures 3 and 4 below).

To  the  user  of  IASs/IFRSs  written  in  English,  it  seems  that  authors  of  the  individual  standards  have  applied  whichever  English  termi  nology  they  are  used  to,  and  this  terminology  then  becomes  the IAS/IFRS English terminology. An example: profi  t is referred to also as  income (although named the income statement,  the  format  shown in the appendix to IAS 1 employs the term profi  t rather than income to individual items).  Figure 4 below shows other examples of the mixture of 'Englishes'.

6 See note 1.

7   Published 2002 in 'Internationale Regnskabsstandarder 2002' by FSR and IASB, distributed by Forlaget Thomson.

| UK Profit and loss account Turnover Gross profit/loss Operating profit/loss Profit/loss before taxation Net profit/loss for the year   | US Income statement Net sales/revenues Gross profit/loss (or: gross margin) Income/loss from operations Income/loss before income taxes Net income/loss   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Figure  3:  Examples  of  different  accounting  terminology  UK/US English:

<!-- image -->

It  is  now  interesting  to  compare  the  terms  in  Figure  3  with  the  IAS terminology and presentation in Figure 4 (US-biased terms are marked with '$'):

Figure 4: Example of IAS accounting terminology (Illustrative Finan  cial Statement Structure. Appendix: Presentation of Financial Statements, IAS 1 (revised 1997)):

<!-- image -->

| Balance sheet Non-current assets $ Property, plant &equipm.$ Current assets Inventories $ Equity($) and liabilities Capital and reserves Non-current liabilities $ Current liabilities   | Income statement $ Revenue Cost of sales Gross profit ($) Other operating income $ Finance cost Income tax expense $ Profit after tax Net profit/loss for the period   |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

The balance sheet is presented in the horizontal format with increasing order of liquidity: format as in US usage, order of liquidity as in UK usage. The income statement is presented in the vertical format that is widely used by companies both in the UK and the US. By US and IAS defi  nitions, the concepts of non-current and current liabilities contain provisions. Compared with DK and UK terminology, the concepts of 'non-current'  and  'current  liabilities'  fail  to  be  fully  equivalent  with the  DK  'langfristede  gældsforpligtelser'  and  'kortfristede  gælds  forpligtelser'  as  well  as  the  UK  'short-term  creditors'  and  'long-term cre  ditors'  that  do  not  include  provisions.  The  Danish  balance  sheet for  mat 8 lacks the broader concept 'forpligtelser' which is equivalent to 'liabilities'. Because it is presented in the vertical format, the UK balance sheet does not show the term. The FASB, UK and IAS defi  nitions of 'liability'  compared  with  the  Danish  defi  nition  of  'forpligtelse'  prov  ide  evidence  for  the  equivalence  between  the  concepts  and  show characteristic features of the superordinate concept:

Figure 5: Defi  nitions of 'liability' and 'forpligtelser'

<!-- image -->

8   The Danish format implements the format in the EC 4th Directive that has the same 'gap':  Passiver: A.Egenkapital;  B.Hensættelser;  C.Gæld.  (Rådets  Fjerde  Direktiv  af 25.7.78, Afd.3, Art. 9).

## 5. Annual reports translated into English

My observations show that Danish companies applying IAS make a distinct  choice  of  either  UK  or  US  English  terminology. Where bias towards  the  Danish  ST  is  necessary  for  correct  understanding,  IAS terminology may be an appropriate choice. A case in point is the term 'associate' (see Example 3 below with comments). To the translator the challenge is that he or she must be able to operate in all three English universes and be familiar with the US/UK/IAS terminology.

Apart from the items in the fi  nancial statements, other terminology in the annual report differs widely in the various 'Englishes'.  A particularly challenging  term  is  'ledelsesberetning',  in  UK  English  referred  to as  'directors'  report'  and  in  the  US  as  'Management's  Discussion  and Analysis  (of  Financial  Condition  and  Results  of  Operations)'.  Here, background  knowledge  is  also  essential:  the  Danish  'beretning'  (report)  is  -  as  laid  down  by  law  -  the  responsibility  of  both  the  board of  directors  (bestyrelse)  and  the  executive  board/management  board (direktion). As appears, the UK term is not equivalent to the Danish term  and  will,  if  applied,  distort  the  meaning.  The  US  term  may  be used if the Danish term 'direktion' is translated into 'executive board' instead of 'management'. This leaves the term 'management' open to be applied for 'ledelse' and interpreted in the general sense of the term that encompasses both board of directors (supervisory board) and executive board. The trend in international English translations is indeed towards 'supervisory  board  +  executive  board'  for  'bestyrelse  +  direktion', leav  ing  'management'  to  be  used  for  'ledelse'  in  general.  This  also solves the translation problem so that 'ledelsesberetning' translates into 'management review' 9  and 'ledelsespåtegning' into 'statement by the management on the annual report'.

I  have  chosen  the  following  three  examples  from  Danish  annual reports translated into and from English to document that the translator must possess specialist background knowledge:

9 'Annual report' is equivalent to 'Årsrapport' i.e. the total fi  nancial reporting material presented including fi  nancial statements and reports.

Intangible fi  xed assets are valued at acquisition price less *depreciation or at *recovery value if lower.

Immaterielle anlægsaktiver måles til anskaffelsessum med fredag af foretagne afskrivninger eller genindvindingsværdi, såfremt denne er lavere.

Example 1: NEG Micon: Accounting policies. TT: UK terminology Danish ST shown below. (Annual Report 2001).

In connection with intangible fi  xed assets, the term for 'afskrivning' is 'amortisation', 10 as 'depreciation' is used in connection with tan  gible, fi  xed  assets.  '*Recovery  value'  is  a  word-by-word  trans  la  tion  as  the term  equivalent  to  'genindvindingsværdi'  is  'recoverable  amount'. 11 With adequate background knowledge supplemented with research on defi  nitions of concepts and use of parallel texts, the errors might have been  avoided.  The  changed  Danish  terminology  in  the  new  Danish Financial Statements Act, which is applied in the 2001 Annual Report of NEG Micon, might have been refl  ected in the English version with a translation of 'måles' by 'measured' instead of 'valued', as the changed Danish terminology builds on the changed English terminology 12 .

10  This appears from accounting standards (both UK/US standards and IASs) and from fi  nancial statements published as STs in English.

11  Recoverable amount: The higher of an asset's net selling price and its value in use (IAS 36.5); genindvindingsværdi: for et aktiv er genindvindingsværdien den højeste værdi  af  kapitalværdien  og  salgsværdien  fratrukket  forventede  omkostninger  ved  et salg. (Årsrapportens elementer, Defi  nitioner, Bilag 1, Årsregnskabsloven 2001).

12  Applying the new terminology is important in that this signals the new approach to the presentation of fi  nancial statements that stems from FASB and IAS.

```
BALANCE SHEET Liabilities and shareholders' equity Shareholders' equity Provisions *Liabilities *Long-term liabilities *Current liabilities Total liabilities and shareholders' equity
```

Example 2: Vestas Wind A/S: Balance sheet. TT: UK terminology Danish ST shown below. (Consolidated accounts and annual accounts for 2001):

<!-- image -->

The item 'liabilities' is a broader concept in relation to the subordinate item 'provisions' that is defi  ned as part of short-term or current lia  bilities  (see  Example  2  above).  The  translation  error  occurs  be  cause of  the  translation  of  'gæld'  into  'liabilities',  because  the  term  'liabi  l  ities'  is  equivalent  to  'forpligtelser'  (cf.  defi  nitions  in  Figure  5 above). However, in choosing 'liabilities and shareholders' equity' for 'passiver', the translator provided a correct solution to the challenge of the Danish term, which carries the two semantic elements 'egenkapital' (shareholders' equity) and 'forpligtelser' (liabilities).

The  Danish  balance  sheet  format  jumps  directly  from  'passiver' ('equity  and  liabilities')  to  the  items:  'hensatte  forpligtelser'  ('pro  visions') and 'gældsforpligtelser' ('creditors/debt'), split in  to 'kortfristede gældsforpligtelser' ('short-term creditors') and 'langfristede gælds  forplig  telser' ('long-term creditors').

In Figure 6 below, the solid arrows show the items as presented in the format in the Danish Financial Statements Act; the broader concept

[Forpligtelser] + -

Hensatte forpligtelser

Kortfristede gældsforpl.

PASSIVER

Egenkapital

Galdsforpligtelser

Langfristede gældsforpl.

Fig. 6: Tree diagram: balance sheet terminology, liabilities and equity

Daci

'liabilities'  (missing  in  the  format)  above  the  narrower  concepts 'provisions' and 'creditors' has been inserted between the dotted arrows in a parenthesis.

<!-- image -->

Fig. 6: Tree diagram: balance sheet terminology, liabilities and equity (passiver). Glossary: Passiver =  equity and liabilities; Forpligtelser = liabilities;  Egenkapital  =  equity;  Hensatte  forpligtelser  =  provisions; Gældsforpligtelser  =  creditors/debt;  Kortfristede  gældsforpl.  =  shortterm creditors; Langfristede gældsforpl. = Long-term creditors).

The translator must be able to cope with problems like these, comparing defi  nitions to ensure that the target reader will get a true and faithful view of the ST.

Example 3: TDC Annual Report 2001. Signifi  cant Accounting Policies. (ST: US terminology, TT: DK translation from US English ST).

<!-- image -->

The  choice  of  US  reporting  language  clearly  appears  from  the  text excerpt: 'Statements of Income' (US), not 'Profi  t and Loss Account' (UK). The concept of associated enterprise is not found in US account  ing terminology. A 20-50% fi  xed asset investment (exercising signifi  cant infl  uence)  is  referred  to  as  a  'minority  active  investment'.   To  retain a  DK source text  bias  and  achieve  full  equivalence  with  the  Danish con  cept  'associeret  virksomhed',  the  translator  had  to  reject  the  US term and opt for a term that is both internationally understood and equiv  alent.  The  IAS  concept  'associate'  and  the  UK  concept  'associated under  taking'  are  fully  equivalent  to  the  DK  concept  of  'associeret virk  somhed'. To maintain a US terminology bias and to opt for interna  tional rather than UK English, the translator chose to combine 'associate' with the US and IAS term 'enterprise'. The UK/EU term 'undertaking' for 'virksomhed' was unacceptable, as 'enterprise' - being the US equivalent to 'undertaking' - is a term generally applied in the TDC Annual Report. Consistency in terminology was achieved and the Danish data were 'presented fairly'.

This example shows how the translator can solve the problem when the TT universe fails to have an equivalent term. The translation should always be true and faithful to the ST and avoid misleading the target reader  with  inappropriate  and  inconsistent  concepts.  The  need  for correct understanding of the TT (i.e. the ST) overrules consistency in US or UK terminology. Generally, three options exist when the translator is required to solve a lexical gap in a particular type of English: the translator may

- (a) fi  nd an equivalent concept in international (IAS) English;
- (b) fi  nd an equivalent term in another variety of English (US if UK and vice versa); or
- (c) 'translate' the Danish concept into an English term that may not exist as a defi  ned concept, but which will embody the charac  teristic features of the ST concept.

The translator who is asked to use international English as the reporting language will naturally use IAS English accounting terminology inasmuch as this is possible. A true and faithful translation of the Danish ST may, however, make it necessary to avoid IAS terminology. This happens if an IAS term is not equivalent to the Danish accounting term.

SOURCE TEXT UNIVERSE

SOURCE

TRANSLATOR

· Type?

identity?

TEXT

- Sender

- Function?

- Analysis

knowledge)

(background

- Understanding

1. TRANSFER

Change of function or contents?

TARGET TEXT UNIVERSE

TARGET

TARGET

- Type?

TEXT

READER

- Function?

Type of

English

t

- Background

- Understanding

knowledge

- Native/non-

native

- homogeneous/

heterogeneous

The  new  Danish  Financial  Statements Act  relies  heavily  on  IAS. The choice of IAS terminology in an English translation of the Act is therefore justifi  ed. Where IAS terminology 'by default' does not cover Danish concepts, the translation will apply UK or EU terminology. The EU has decided that listed companies in member countries must present fi  nancial statements according to IAS by 2005, and the EC 4 th and 7 th Directives  are  being  adjusted  accordingly  at  the  time  of  writing.  To which extent the EU terminology will be changed remains to be seen.

## 6. Translation process and strategies

The  discussion  above  illustrates  the  need  for  the  translator  to  have extra-linguistic background knowledge:

- about the ST context universe to be able to understand the ST, and
- about the UK, US and international TT context.

Clear insight into terminology and defi  nitions used in UK, US and IAS accounting English is another prerequisite. The model below illustrates the translation process:

Figure 7: Translation Process Diagram, Mourier 2003

<!-- image -->

In the following I apply the model to a translation of an annual report from Danish into English: The ST stems from a Danish company with a controlling US shareowner. The shares are traded both on the Copenhagen  and  New  York  Stock  Exchanges.  Obviously,  this  estab  lishes a  US  TT  universe,  and  the  TT  must  appear  in  US  English.  Having decided this, the translator will now read through the ST and analyse it in terms of text genre (fi  nancial report), style (important to preserve the style of the ST in the TT) and tone of voice: passive voice for facts and professional data, and active voice for management's views and responsibility statements. Any hedging in the ST must be maintained in the TT as fi  nancial reports contain sensitive data. Figures must be represented  with  great  accuracy.  The  translator  must  be  loyal  to  the sender. The translator will rely on her/his linguistic expertise for high quality language in the TT and on his/her extra-linguistic background knowledge with a view to producing a true and faithful representation of  the  ST  contents.  To  ensure  equivalence,  accounting  terminology defi    nitions of the ST must be carefully compared with those of the TT. Terms should never be chosen at random, even though the time factor is always a challenge. Where equivalence between particular concepts does  not  exist,  the  translator  must  carefully  study  the  ST  context  to produce a TT that correctly reproduces the Danish contents to the target readers,  in  this  case  the  US  stakeholders  and  the  US  Securities  and Exchange Commission with whom the annual report must be fi  led.

## 7. Translator qualities

Much is required from the professional translator. Language expertise is a prerequisite, but not suffi  cient. Extra-linguistic specialist background knowledge is a must, particularly in language for accounting purposes. Techniques for acquiring and sustaining such knowledge are essential for  the  professional  translator. As  pointed  out  by  Gile  (1995:141),  it is important that the translator is able to assess knowledge acquisition requirements and possibilities before accepting an assignment. Therefore,  self-awareness  is  important.  The  translator  should  refrain  from accepting  translations  within  subject  areas  that  he  or  she  does  not master. To meet this challenge, the translator can specialise in certain sub  ject areas. Financial reporting texts may be diffi  cult to handle, but once the necessary accounting background knowledge is acquired, a

/

SOURCE

HUMAN

NON-HUMAN

/

Terminological (dictionaries, term bases etc.)

Non-terminological - Indirect (parallel texts)

Paper

/ Terminological (dictionaries, term bases etc.)

Non-terminological - Indirect (parallel texts)

Electronic

wide array of assignments are open to the translator, bearing in mind that this background knowledge must of course be currently updated.

Other  requirements  include:  experience,  self-confi  dence,  loyalty  to sender, openness to dialogue with client or commissioner (to ask questions, clarify understanding and discuss choice of English variety). To this  can  be  added  analytical  thinking,  problem solving and decisionmaking. After the analytical stage in the translation process, the translator  must  be  experienced  in  fi  nding  quick  answers  to  problems  of understanding and in making prompt decisions about terminology. Not to  forget  the  translator's  challenge  of  time:  most  translation  work  is made against the clock. The panacea is adequate specialist background knowledge, appropriate strategies and tools,  and  the  ability  of  quick decision-making to which must be added experience.

## 8. Translation tools

As fi  nancial texts are quite complicated, adequate tools are important. Gile classifi  es the translator's information sources into human and nonhuman sources and discusses the variables, weaknesses and strengths of the different sources (Gile 1995:133ff).

Figure 8: Classifi  cation of information sources (based on Gile)

<!-- image -->

In Figures 9, 10 and 11 below, the information sources are classifi  ed for reporting text translation purposes:

## HUMAN SOURCES:

client, commissioner, accountant (expert), sparring partner (translator colleague)

Figure 9: Human sources for accounting texts

<!-- image -->

Figure 10: Non-human paper sources for accounting texts

Figure 11: Non-human electronic sources for accounting texts

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As  tools,  bilingual  dictionaries  may  provide  inspiration  in  that  they sug  gest  an  array of terms for translating the entry in question. However, defi  nitions or characteristic features are seldom found in bilingual dictionaries. Therefore, such dictionaries must be used with great care by the translator. The choice of term from the range of translation suggestions must not be made at random. Therefore, bilingual dictionaries are useful as a starting point in the search for an adequate equivalent term.  Suggested  terms  will  next  have  to  be  checked  in  monolingual special subject dictionaries that defi  ne each entry in question, enabling the  translator  to  choose  the  equivalent  term.  Blind  faith  in  bilingual dictionaries leads to errors and poor translation quality. The best tools are found in parallel texts and 'home-made' term bases furnished with defi  nitions  and  comments  based  on  the  translator's  own  experience. Translation memories (such as Translator's Workbench) of course al  so provide a valuable tool for maintaining consistency in recurring translations of the same type.

## 9. The translator's challenges

Translations of fi  nancial reporting texts are particularly challenging to the translator, not only because of the special fi  nancial and accounting terminology  and  the  requirements  for  extra-linguistic  background knowledge  of  a  diffi  cult  subject,  but  also  because  of  the  different genre types present in the text material. The annual report consists of various text genres: operating review, fi  nancial review, statement by the management on the annual report, auditors' report, accounting policies, fi  nancial  statements:  profi  t  and  loss  account,  balance  sheet,  etc.,  and often also supplementary statements such as the environmental report, the intellectual capital report, and not least, the notes to the fi  nancial statements. The translator must be familiar with the different tones of voice in the formal fi  nancial statements with their particular accounting code  language  and  in  the  operating  and  fi  nancial  reviews  where  the focus  is  on  language  and  style.  Furthermore,  the  translator  must  be able to advise the company/client on choice of variety of English and must master DK, UK, US and international (IAS) accounting terminology. For the translation process, the translator must have specialist background knowledge to understand the ST properly and produce a high  quality  TT.  When  annual  reports  must  be  submitted  to  the  US

author  ities (the Securities and Exchange Commission - SEC), besides being presented to the US stakeholder, the translator is faced with the par  ticular  challenge  of  addressing  two  different  target  groups.  This requires a change in the style of the contents in the annual report as presented to stakeholders, when presenting the same fi  nancial data in the form 10-K 13 to the SEC. Surprisingly, this change may be from a formal style in the annual report to a more informal tone of voice in the 10-K! This process requires a thorough linguistic background knowledge and experience.

## 10.   Conclusion

To produce high quality fi  nancial reporting text translations, the translator will need a range of personal and professional qualities, extensive background knowledge, solid experience, and access to ad  equate tools. A  translation  strategy  is  imperative.  To  this  can  be  added  the  extra challenge with which the translator is faced: English is not even English. There are at least three important varieties in accounting language: UK, US and IAS English. A mixture of these must be avoided. The choice of TT language (variety of English) is a strategic decision that ideally rests with company management. Only then can the translator, as the communications  and  language  expert,  contribute  effectively  to  the communicating of fi  nancial reporting texts across continents.

Note: August 2003 saw the publication of an electronic accoutning dictionary on the Internet  covering  Danish  and  English  terminology.  The  dictionary  is  available  free of charge at www.regnskabsordbogen.dk and is compiled by ass.prof. Sandro Nielsen, prof. Henning Belgenholtz (both Aarhus School of Business) and ass.prof. Lise Mourier (CBS); database and layout by Richard Almind (Aarhus School of Business). Further research work on the dictionary is going on.

## References

- Blake, John/Lunt, Henry 2001: Accounting Standards .  Seventh ed. London: Pearson Education.
- Financial Accounting Standards Board. 2000. Current Text. Accounting Standards and Original Pronouncements. Vols. I-II. Connecticut: John Wiley & Sons.

13  10-K is the name of the SEC-form.

- Gile, Daniel 1995: Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
- International  Accounting  Standards  on  CD-ROM  2002.  International  Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (IASCF), December edition.
- Internationale Regnskabsstandarder 2002. IASB og FSR. Forlaget Thomson A/S.
- Kurz, Ingrid 1988: Conference interpreters - can they afford not to be generalists? In Hammond, Deanna L. (ed.) Languages at Crossroads, Proceedings of the 29 th  Annual Conference of the American Translators Association. Medford, New Jersey: Learned Information.
- Lov om erhvervsdrivende virksomheders afl  æggelse af årsregnskab m.v. (årsregnskabsloven). Erhvervsministeriets lov nr. 448 af 7. juni 2001.
- Mourier, Lise 1996: Translation challenges and quality problems in fi  nancial reporting. In Grinsted, Annelise (ed.) Language & Business Life . Vol. 2, Kolding: Southern Den  mark Business School.
- Mourier, Lise 2000: Integrating theory and practice in translator education for LSP. In Teanga 10. D. P. Ó Baoill & M. Ruane (ed.), Integrating Theory and Practice in LSP and LAP , The Irish yearbook of applied linguistics. Dublin: IRAAL & UCD.
- Nobes,  Christopher/Parker,  Robert  2000: Comparative International Accounting ,  6 th ed, London: Pearson.
- Parker, Bob 2001: Read with care. Financial Reporting Translations. In Accountancy . June 2001, p. 102.
- Rådets Fjerde Direktiv af 25. juli 1978. Direktiv 78/660/EØF med senere ændringer.
- Text corpus: annual reports for 2001 in Danish and English presented by Danish KFX companies listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

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