Abstract ： Integrating practical working experience， the author tries to analyze the operation status of foreign-related projects of petroleum enterprises， and then not only put forward the problems existing in financial management but also propose countermeasures against such problems in order to achieve standardized development of foreign-related projects of petroleum enterprises， properly avoid certain risks， and realize benefit goals in a better way.

Key words ： Petroleum Enterprises； Foreign-related projects； Financial Management； Problems； Countermeasures.

With the increasing development and improvement of the petroleum market in China， plus the accelerated pace of globalization， Chinese petroleum enterprises enjoy a growing number of foreign-related projects and actively embrace international operation mode and investment. Effective financial management in foreign-related projects will not only enhance income on investment in such projects， but also will successfully avoid various risks and ensure the fulfillment of financial index， profit index， etc.

1. Problems Existing in Financial Management in Foreign-related Projects of Petroleum Enterprises

After a long period of undertaking foreign-related projects， Chinese petroleum enterprises have accumulated some experience and built financial management system and risk assessment standard according to the actual situation of projects. Such experience， system and standard played a favorable role in ensuring the continuity and stability of the operation of foreign-related projects. However， in recent years， international petroleum market is exposed to tremendous fluctuations； besides， foreign-related projects are dwarfed by political factors， economic factors and trade factors in numerous counties. Consequently， a lot of drawbacks in financial management emerged. Specific analysis of such drawbacks is presented as follows：

1.1 Lack of Understanding of the External Environment of Foreign-related Projects

Due to lack of complete familiarity and understanding of the political environment， financial policies and laws and regulations of the country where the invested project is situated， the project financial management personnel have been afflicted with numerous inconveniences and troubles， resulting in the change of asset value of the project， or even emergence of such problems as asset depreciation， asset loss， etc.，， which are difficult to be compensated for in effective ways.

1.2 Non-standard Operation Technique for Financial Management in Foreign-related Projects

The financial management for foreign-related petroleum projects involves quite complicated capital management technique and the application of related combinations. Without effective measures， such component elements as capital operation， investment decision making or capital transfer will take on more risks and the operation cost of foreign-related projects will be increased. However， the operation technique for financial management in foreign-related projects of Chinese petroleum enterprises still needs to be modified and improved.

1.3 Insufficient Prevention from Foreign Exchange Rate Risks

Over the past few years， as more and more foreign-related projects are undertaken by Chinese petroleum enterprises， currency exchange rate changes resulting from foreign currency transactions or settlements exert direct influences on economic benefits and social efficiency of such petroleum enterprises. The foreign exchange rate risks can be mainly summarized into the following three types： what comes first is transaction risk. Any change of the exchange rate will influence the transaction item that is settled in foreign currency and will lead to economic losses. Meanwhile， in case of fluctuation in exchange rate， enterprises holding foreign currency to ensure the normal operation of project will suffer from financial losses， which also belong to transaction risk. The second one is accounting risk. Foreign currency will be converted into functional currency in the process of financial treatment or compilation of financial statement. However， in case of fluctuation in exchange rate， book loss shall be incurred. The third one is economic risk. Once the exchange rate fluctuates， the raw materials， commodities， labor costs or market demands， etc. in overseas market shall be changed accordingly， probably exerting unfavorable influences on the operation of Chinese petroleum enterprises. What is even worse， the objective existence of economic risk will lead to the uncertainty about the future cash flow of petroleum enterprises， thus consequently imposing unnecessary losses on them.

1.4 Unsatisfactory comprehensive Quality of Financial Management Personnel

Because of lack of sufficient financial personnel in the process of their development， petroleum enterprises tend to assign the financial management for foreign-related projects to undergraduates fresh out of school. In terms of professional ability， these undergraduates fail to be competent for their positions for lack of sufficient foreign-related specialized knowledge and training from financial organization； plus their foreign language ability also needs to be improved. In conclusion， these fresh financial management personnel need to improve themselves， both in working experience and in communication ability.

2.Ways and Countermeasures to Improve and Optimize the Financial Management in Foreign-related Projects

With reference to actual situation of financial management in foreign-related projects， petroleum enterprises are still confronted with a lot of problems and challenges. Failure to take well-targeted countermeasures to address and optimize these problems is doomed to hinder the successful development of the projects， and even trigger all kinds of risks. Therefore， the author proposes ways and suggestions for the improvement of financial management for foreign-related projects of petroleum enterprises from the following perspectives：

2.1 Actively Cope with the Environment Transformation of the Host Country

In terms of financial management in foreign-related projects， petroleum enterprises should get comprehensive knowledge about the economic status， political environment and corresponding financial and legal regulations， etc. of host countries， so as to build mature risk measurement and assessment systems. Specifically， petroleum enterprises should objectively analyze the potential transformation of political system， legal and financial situation， asset and exchange rate systems， etc. of the host countries， and should actively cope with potential transformations， formulate contingency plan and properly address sudden incidents. Besides， a special attention should be paid to the enhancement of cooperation with third-party insurance institutions to mitigate loss by seeking compensation.

2.2 Have a Good Command of Operation Procedures and Operation Technique

In the process of financial management in foreign-related projects， petroleum enterprises should grasp a comprehensive knowledge of how the transnational capital flows， strictly adhere to the operation procedure in transaction， avoid impact factors and bring the mechanism of action into full play. Meanwhile， contingency plans for the capital operation， capital transfer and investment and financing methods are also very important for preventing from capital management risks on the basis of ensuring net cash flow of projects. During the international financing， various flexible ways， such as trust， equity transfer， BOT or equity repurchase， etc.， can be adopted according to the actual situation to dispose assets of petroleum projects. With increasingly accumulated experience in financial management in foreign-related projects and expanding professional talents of Chinese petroleum enterprises， the implementation of scientific and appropriate investment and financing decisions is feasible to some extent and beneficial to the enhancement of risk prevention awareness and control ability.

2.3 Appropriately Avoid Foreign Exchange Rate Risk

As for the countermeasures against financial management risks， much successful experience of western countries is worth learning and following for Chinese petroleum enterprises. For instance， with the adoption of foreign exchange options， futures contract and forward contract and other methods， American transnational companies embrace derivative financial transactions， which exempts them from much exchange rate loss in case the market exchange rate changes. Meanwhile， foreign-related petroleum projects need strong financial support. In terms of financing， overseas branch companies can， to some extent， choose commercial bank loan from the host countries or loan from international financial organizations， etc. to achieve localized financing and thus diminish risks resulting from currency depreciation.

Besides， while petroleum enterprises carry out foreign-related projects， their concepts and methods of financial management need to go global. In spite of its positive role in avoiding risks， the method of hedging itself entails risks， so it has to be treated prudently in case it incurs benefit loss to enterprises due to misuse of financial derivative tools. Petroleum enterprises should have a good command of the nature， merits and disadvantages of this technique， and master rules of international currency market so that they can effectively avoid the risks in overseas operation and thus realize benefit goals of projects.

2.4 Build Financial and Accounting Talents of High Quality

First of all， personnel assigned to financial management for a foreign-related project should be required to accept professional financial training， including budgeting， calculation， taxation and internal control and other aspects before being assigned to the project； and then they should learn from and cooperate with sophisticated financial and accounting personnel in the project so that they can incessantly accumulate experience and grow mature and thus better adapt to the requirements of their positions. Second， those on-the-job financial personnel should be actively organized to participate in financial training related to foreign-related projects， to diligently learn English， to know well foreign financial tax policies， to adopt foreign currency calculation and management methods， to put into force the foreign exchange management regulations at home and abroad and to masterfully go through bank businesses of all kinds at home and abroad. Only in this way can the financial personnel improve the competence to go through foreign-related businesses and increase financial risk identification efficiency. And then they can offer to foreign-related projects services in respect of contract negotiation， capital withdrawal and tax planning. Third， job rotation system should be adopted for the financial personnel engaged in foreign-related projects of petroleum enterprises. The financial difficulties that financial personnel are confronted with in work may be hard to resolve by virtue of individual knowledge， ability or experience， but may be better done with the implementation of job rotation system. If financial personnel of foreign-related projects and those at home regularly rotated through jobs， it can be ensured that these financial personnel have a comprehensive command of business knowledge at home and abroad and grasp business skills and effectively avoid financial risks through communication and coordination.

To conclude， with certain complexity and risk， financial management in foreign-related projects of petroleum enterprises poses quite high requirements to financial management methods. The financial management efficiency exerts direct influence on the operation of foreign-related projects， and thus constitutes fundamental guarantee of the realization of economic benefits.

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（作者單位：中石化集團(tuán)江漢石油管理局油田建設(shè)工程公司財(cái)務(wù)科）