EMPLOYEES IN FOREIGN ENTERPRISE
PRACTICAL BUSINESS ENGLISH TALKING
外 企 人 员 实 用 商 务 英 语 会 话
FINANCIAL INSPECTION
1. Dialogues:
PART ONE
(Financial specialist Lisa Wang is having a casual talk with her foreign colleague Cherry on company’s financial issues.)
C: Hi, Lisa, what have you been busy with lately?
L: Noting but financial daily routine. This month our corporate CFO has visited Suzhou to inspect company’s financial operation over the last year. Our Financial Controller informed us that we should prepare the annual finical report and submit it to him on or before 1st of Dec. So, I had to work really hard indeed.
C: Why? I don’t think it will be your job. It is supposed to be done by your supervisor or manager.
L: You are just partially right. As a matter of fact, the report should be prepared by different staff in our department, then put together and compiled up to a complete file though a company’s software called K3 System for submission.
C: So what have you been doing?
L: As a financial specialist I was responsible for writing one part of the report, which included cash issue and account balance.
C: I heard that during his inspection, our CFO held a major meeting attended by GM, Business Director, Marketing Manager, RCT Manager and others.
L: Yes, he was giving us explicit items in next year on financial objectives.
C: I also learned from Financial Controller that our CFO was not much satisfied with the data in your initial finical report, what was that problem?
L: That’s true. Our department called a meeting to discuss this issue. We agreed that we should try our best not to make any obvious mistakes and to assure the accuracy of the data in our report from the perspective of finical responsibility.
C: What about other problems such as sales performance or operational profits?
L: For that kind of problems we really could do nothing to help, neither could we make any frauds to change them.
C: Yes, I can see your point.
Part Two
(Lisa and Cherry meet again)
C: Hi, Lisa, you look tired. What’s going on?
L: Tell you the truth. To prepare for our head quarter’s audit in January of 2012 I have been working overtime on all weekends since the end of last December. Even during the New Year’s holiday I had only one day off.
C: What a pity! How did you process the auditing?
L: On the 9th of January the auditing guys from KPMG came to our company, carrying out heavy bags and suitcases. Then they kicked off the auditing for a period of one week.
C: What were you doing then?
L: You know, as a cashier or cash specialist my major responsibility is to check out the bank balance and cash issue, and to fill out several forms for the balance records of our key suppliers.
C: Did the KMPG guys give you any hard time?
L: Actually they were quite friendly. For bank balance record I provided the balance sheets of 2010 and 2011 to them. Then, they wrote a letter of confirmation request to the bank for information verification. For cash issue I provided them with a cash payment form bearing a company’s stamp.
C: Is the cash payment statement a very complex work?
L: Of course. I spent a lot of time on filling out our suppliers’ payment forms. I had to match invoices and amounts paid with our payment request bills and to fill in the date of payments, because the account payment due period is crucial for auditing.
C: It seems you gave yourself hard time.
Part Three
C: Hi, Lisa, how did your audit go? Is it finished yet?
L: It went well. The KPMG people co-operated with us closely and the one-week busy work on auditing had passed quickly. After that the account period of 2011 had closed and the new account set for 2012 had opened. We have entered a new round of busy season in a new year.
C: So, you guys are finally released now.
L: Not really. Financial staff never get chance to relax. As Spring Festival is coming up I have to keep working hard to get all work done by the mid of January.
C: Company is usually tight of cash by year end. Do we have such problem?
L: You get to the point. Many of our suppliers urged us to pay for their goods shipped already, meanwhile many of our customers have delayed their payments to our company, and our major tax payments are due in January too. All of these factors caused a shortage of cash flow and as a result, we have difficulties to pay off our employees’ salaries at this time.
C: This is what people usually worry about. How could we survive this time?
L: Fortunately, this problem has been solved through the early payment by our HK Company. As I know, such kind of problems were more serious among sectors in IT industry. I heard that some companies in SND couldn’t pay their employees' salaries nor year-end bonus this time for the same reasons.
C: I felt like the financial crises of 2008 came back again. Anyway, it’s good we've survived.
2. New Words, Phrases and Expressions:
financial [ ] 财务，金融
corporate [ ] 公司的
inspect [ ] 检视，检查
operation [ ] 运行，操作
controller [ ] 监督员
submit/submission [ ] 呈交，呈递
indeed [ ] 确实地
partially [ ] 部分地
financial specialist [ ] 财务专员
compile [ ] 编纂
account balance [ ] 账目结余
explicit [ ] 具体的
assure [ ] 保证
accuracy [ ] 准确性
obvious [ ] 明显的
perspective [ ] 观点
profit [ ] 利润
fraud [ ] 伪造
audit [ ] 审计
cashier [ ] 出纳，现金管理员
request [ ] 请求
confirmation [ ] 确认
verification [ ] 认证
bear [ ] 忍受，敲（章）
stamp [ ] 图章
crucial [ ] 关键的
release [ ] 释放，解脱
meanwhile [ ] 同时
shortage [ ] 短缺
factor [ ] 因素
due [ ] 上缴
urge [ ] 催促
sector [ ] 机构，单位
difficulty [ ] 困难
survive [ ] 存活，幸免
crisis/crises [ ] 危机
3. Sentence Patterns and Expressions
to be busy with 忙于
to submit … to 将 。。。呈交给 。。。
on or before 在。。或之前
it is supposed to 那应该 。。。
as a matter of factor 事实上
be satisfied with 对 。。。满意
to hold a meeting 召开会议
from the perspective of 以 。。。的观点
can do nothing to help 无法相助
I can see your point 我可以想见你的观点
to make frauds to 以造就来 。。。
to carry out 携带
to fill out/in 填写/填入
key supplier 主要供应商
fill in/out 填入/填写
to give … hard time 给 。。。麻烦
to match … with … 把 。。。与 。。。相比对
to be crucial for 对 。。。至关重要
to provide … with … 向 。。。提供 。。。
how did … go? 。。。进展如何？
a new round of 新的一轮
to get to the point 谈到点子上
be due on 在 。。。上缴
for the same reason 因同样的理由
I feel like 我感到好像
we are survived 我们得救了
4. Text Translation in Chinese
财 务 检 查
第一部分：
（财务专员王丽莎与她的外国同事屈蕾在随意谈论公司的财务话题）
屈：嗨，丽莎，最近在忙些什么呢？
丽：除了每天日常财务工作外别无其他。本月我们集团的财务总监来苏州视察我们公司上一年度的财务运作情况。我们财务监理通知我们在12月1日前把年度财务报表做好并提交给他。我真是不得不干得够辛苦的。
屈：怎么呢？我觉得这不应该是你的工作。这好像应该由你们经理或主管来完成的。
丽：你只讲对了一部分。实际上，这报告应该由我们部门不同的成员来完成，再放在一起，然后通过一个叫K3系统的软件编辑成一份完整的文件再提交。
屈：那么你做了些什么呢？
丽：作为一个财务专员，我负责编写一部分报告，包括现金方面和账目平衡。
屈：我对此在检查中已有所闻，财务总监召开了一个有总经理、商务总监、市场部经理、RTC部门经理等参加的主要会议。
丽：是的，他为我们下一年的财务目标提出了明确的条目。
屈：我也从财务监理那里得知，财务总监对我们的初步报表数据不是很满意，这是怎么回事？
丽：是有这事。我们召开了一个会议来讨论这个问题。从我们财务人员责任的角度出发，
我们同意应该尽量避免任何明显的错误，以确保报表数据的准确性。
屈：其他问题呢，例如销售业绩、营业利润等？
丽：对这类问题我们财务部门真的无能为力，我们不可能在账务上做任何手脚。
第二部分：
（丽莎和屈蕾再次相遇）
屈：嗨，丽莎，你看上去有点累，怎么回事？
丽：实话对你说，从去年12月底开始，为了迎接2012年1月份公司总部的审计，我每个周末都加班，元旦也只休息了1天。
屈：你是怎么做审计的？
丽：1月9日，KMPG公司的那帮子人拖着沉重的包裹和行李箱来我司，开始了为期一周的审计。
屈：你那时是怎么干的呢？
丽：你知道，作为出纳或现金业务员，我的主要责任是检查银行余款和现金方面，还有就是填写好几份主要供应商的银行余额记录。
屈：那些KMPG家伙有没有给你们麻烦？
丽：事实上，他们还是相当友好的。银行余款方面我把2010年和2011年的余款记录单提供给他们。然后他们写一份证询函，向银行证明资金余额的正确性。现金方面我提供一个现金盘点表盖上公章就可以了。
屈：现金付款说明是一件很复杂的工作吗？
丽：当然。我花了很多时间填写供应商付款表格。我需要将给供应商的发票和付款金额跟手头上的付款申请单对应起来，填写付款的日期，因为应付账款的账龄对审计是十分重要的。
第三部分
屈：嗨，丽莎，你们的审计怎样了？现在结束了吗？
丽：进行得不错。KPMG人员与我们紧密合作，审计一周忙忙碌碌的工作就这么很快过去了。在2011年的账期关闭之后，2012年的帐套又开启了。我们又开始了新的一轮的忙碌。
屈：那么，你们可以轻松一下了。
丽：哪能呢！财务人员从来没有休闲的机会。由于春节节假日即将来临，我不得不加紧工作，把所有事情在一月中旬之前完成。
屈：公司通常在年终现金比较紧张。我们有这方面的问题吗？
丽：你讲到点子上了。很多供应商催促我们支付货款，同时我们的不少客户又拖着我们的货款不付，而且我们的主要税款一月份也到付期了。所有种种原因导致我们现金流短缺，结果是，我们发放当月员工工资有点困难。
屈：大家就担心这个。我们怎么度过这个难关呢？
丽：幸运的是，这个问题还是通过我们HK公司提前给我们付货款来解决了。据我所知，这个问题在一些IT企业更加严重。我听说新区有些电子厂由于同样原因无法发放员工工资及年终奖金。
屈：我感觉好像2008年那样的金融危机又回来了。不管怎样，我们能够得救就好。
