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Accounting reform in China offers a good example of international accounting harmonisation. The anxiety demonstrated by the Chinese authorities during the reform and the irresistible Americanisation of the Chinese accounting system since the reform, however, present several risks for the feasibility of the new system. By using the theory of accounting standardisation, this article seeks to give an overview of this reform and to analyse the reasons for the reform and the choices chosen by the government. It focuses particularly on existing incompatibility between the new system and the economic and professional realities, and the risks in both the fields of accounting regulation and practice.