appreciation built up since, $600 million, the tax liability has
been booked at 34%. The difference reflects the increase in tax
rates that went into effect in 1987.
原先我们在这方面的负债分作好几层，对于1986年以前帐列未实现利益，大约
在12亿美元左右，系以28%的税率估算，对于1986年之后的帐列未实现利益，
大约在6亿美元左右，系以34%的税率估算，1987年起调整税率的差异反应税
负的差异。
It now appears, however, that the new accounting rule will
require us to establish the entire liability at 34% in 1990,
taking the charge against our earnings. Assuming no change in
tax rates by 1990, this step will reduce our earnings in that
year (and thereby our reported net worth) by $71 million. The
proposed rule will also affect other items on our balance sheet,
but these changes will have only a minor impact on earnings and
net worth.
现在看起来，新的会计原则要求我们从1990年开始必须将所有未实现利益的预
估税率订在34%，经估算光是这一项做法就会使得我们的年度盈余与净值减少
七千多万美元，还不包含其它大大小小的影响。
We have no strong views about the desirability of this
change in calculation of deferred taxes. We should point out,
however, that neither a 28% nor a 34% tax liability precisely
depicts economic reality at Berkshire since we have no plans to
sell the stocks in which we have the great bulk of our gains.
其实我们不认为这样转变有其必要性，因为对于Berkshire来说不管税率是28%
或是34%，都不能反应我们公司的实质现况，因为我们从来不考虑出售我们具
有庞大未实现利益的股票。
To those of you who are uninterested in accounting, I
apologize for this dissertation. I realize that many of you do
not pore over our figures, but instead hold Berkshire primarily
because you know that: (1) Charlie and I have the bulk of our
money in Berkshire; (2) we intend to run things so that your
gains or losses are in direct proportion to ours; and (3) the
record has so far been satisfactory. There is nothing
necessarily wrong with this kind of aith?approach to
investing. Other shareholders, however, prefer an .nalysis?
approach and we want to supply the information they need. In our
own investing, we search for situations in which both approaches
give us the same answer.
对于那些对会计不感兴趣的人，很抱歉耽误各位的时间，我很清楚你们当中有很
多根本不会仔细去看数字，但却仍持续支持我们，因为你们知道(1)查理跟我本
身的身家也都在里面(2)我们绝对会与各位共享荣枯(3)到目前为止先前的记录还
算令人满意。事实上这种完全信任的投资方法并没有什么不好，但也有一些股东
比较喜欢深入分析的方式，因此我们也有必要提供足够的信息给他们，至于
Berkshire本身在做投资时，则是两种方法并用，重点在于能不能得到满意的答
案。
Sources of Reported Earnings
帐列盈余的来源
In addition to supplying you with our new four-sector
accounting material, we will continue to list the major sources
of Berkshire reported earnings just as we have in the past.
除了提供给各位最新四个部门的会计资料，我们一如往常还是会提列出
Berkshire帐列盈余的主要来源
In the following table, amortization of Goodwill and other
major purchase-price accounting adjustments are not charged
against the specific businesses to which they apply but are
instead aggregated and shown separately. This procedure lets you
view the earnings of our businesses as they would have been
reported had we not purchased them. Ie explained in past
reports why this form of presentation seems to us to be more
useful to investors and managers than the standard GAAP
presentation, which makes purchase-price adjustments on a
business-by-business basis. The total net earnings we show in
the table are, of course, identical to the GAAP total in our
audited financial statements.
在下表商誉的摊销数与购买法会计调整数会从个别被投资公司分离出来，单独加
总列示，之所以这样做是为了让旗下各事业的盈余状况，不因我们的投资而有所
影响，过去我一再地强调我们认为这样的表达方式，较之一般公认会计原则，不
管是对投资者或是管理者来说，更有帮助，当然最后损益加总的数字仍然会与经
会计师查核的数字一致。
Further information about these businesses is given in the
Business Segment section on pages 32-34, and in the Management
Discussion section on pages 36-40. In these sections you also
will find our segment earnings reported on a GAAP basis. For
information on Wesco businesses, I urge you to read Charlie
Munger letter, which starts on page 52. It contains the best
description I have seen of the events that produced the present
savings-and-loan crisis. Also, take special note of Dave
Hillstrom performance at Precision Steel Warehouse, a Wesco
subsidiary. Precision operates in an extremely competitive
industry, yet Dave consistently achieves good returns on invested
capital. Though data is lacking to prove the point, I think it
is likely that his performance, both in 1988 and years past,
would rank him number one among his peers.
年报中还有企业个别部门的信息，有关Wesco公司的信息，我强烈建议大家可
以看看查理孟格所写的年报，里头包含我看过对储贷机构危机事件写得最贴切的
一篇文章，另外也可以顺便看看Precision钢铁厂，这家Wesco的子公司所处
的产业竞争相当激烈，但经理人Dave仍然努力创造相当不错的绩效，虽然手头
上缺乏资料来证明，但我相信他的表现绝对不比其它同侪逊色。
1988 Unit:US'000
Earnings Before Income Tax After Income Tax
Percent Total Berkshire Share Berkshire Share
Earnings from Operation
Insurance Group
Underwriting #DIV/0! (11,081) (1,045)
Net Investment Income #DIV/0! 231,250 197,779
Buffalio News #DIV/0! 42,429 25,462
Fechheimer 14,152 7,720
Kirby 26,891 17,842
Nebraska Furniture Mart #DIV/0! 18,439 9,099
Scott Fetzer-Diversified 28,542 17,640
See's Candies #DIV/0! 32,473 19,671
Wesco Financial Corporation-Parent #DIV/0! 16,133 10,650
World Book 27,890 18,021
Amortization of Goodwill (2,806) (2,806)
Interest on Debt (35,613) (23,212)
Shareholder's Contribution (4,966) (3,217)
Other 34,717 19,837
0 418,450 313,441
Realized Securities Gain 131,671 85,829
Total Earnings-all entities 0 550,121 399,270
*不包含史考特飞兹金融集团的利息费用
*Excludes interest expense of Scott Fetzer Financial Group.
我们旗下各项营运事业所创造的盈余，不管是依绝对值或是与同业相较，实在是
相当出色，对此我们衷心感谢这些辛苦的经理人，你我应该感到庆幸能与他们一
起共事。
The earnings achieved by our operating businesses are
superb, whether measured on an absolute basis or against those of
their competitors. For that we thank our operating managers: You
and I are fortunate to be associated with them.
At Berkshire, associations like these last a long time. We
do not remove superstars from our lineup merely because they have
attained a specified age - whether the traditional 65, or the 95
reached by Mrs. B on the eve of Hanukkah in 1988. Superb
managers are too scarce a resource to be discarded simply because
a cake gets crowded with candles. Moreover, our experience with
newly-minted MBAs has not been that great. Their academic
records always look terrific and the candidates always know just
what to say; but too often they are short on personal commitment
to the company and general business savvy. It difficult to
teach a new dog old tricks.
在Berkshire，这样的关系可以维持相当长久，我们不会因为这些杰出优秀的明
星经理人年纪到了一定程度就把他们给换掉，不管是65岁或是B太太在1988
年所打破的95岁上限，明星的经理人实在是可遇不可求的稀罕珍宝，他们就像
是插满蜡烛的蛋糕，如何叫人舍得把他们丢弃，相较之下，我们对于新进的MBA
企管硕士的评价就没有那么高了，他们的学术经历看起来总是很吓人，讲起话来
头头是道，但个人对于企业长期发展的投入却相当有限，实在是很难去教菜狗那
套老伎俩。
Here an update on our major non-insurance operations:
以下是我们非保险部门的最新营运状况︰
o At Nebraska Furniture Mart, Mrs. B (Rose Blumkin) and her
cart roll on and on. She been the boss for 51 years, having
started the business at 44 with $500. (Think what she would have
done with $1,000!) With Mrs. B, old age will always be ten years
away.
在内布拉斯加家具店方面，B太太坐着她的轮椅持续运转，自从44岁那年以500
块美金开始创业当老板，至今已有51个年头，(要是当初是用1,000块的话，
现在可能更不得了)，对于B太太来说，就是再多十岁也不嫌老。
The Mart, long the largest home furnishings store in the
country, continues to grow. In the fall, the store opened a
detached 20,000 square foot Clearance Center, which expands our
ability to offer bargains in all price ranges.
这家全美最大的家具量贩店到现在还在持续成长，去年秋天，又新开了一家占地
20,000平方英呎的清洁用品中心，让我们的产品线不论是各种价格都应有尽有。
Recently Dillard, one of the most successful department
store operations in the country, entered the Omaha market. In
many of its stores, Dillard runs a full furniture department,
undoubtedly doing well in this line. Shortly before opening in
Omaha, however, William Dillard, chairman of the company,
announced that his new store would not sell furniture. Said he,
referring to NFM: .e don. want to compete with them. We think
they are about the best there is.?
最近Dillard一家在全美地区经营相当成功的百货公司打算进军奥玛哈地区，在
它其它主要的分店都设有家具部门，事实上他们在这方面也做的相当成功，不过
就在其奥玛哈分店开幕的前夕，Dillard总裁William先生却宣布这家分店决定
不卖家具，他特别提到NFM，表示你绝对不会想要与它竞争，我想它在当地已
经是最强的了。
At the Buffalo News we extol the value of advertising, and
our policies at NFM prove that we practice what we preach. Over
the past three years NFM has been the largest ROP advertiser in
the Omaha World-Herald. (ROP advertising is the kind printed in
the paper, as contrasted to the preprinted-insert kind.) In no
other major market, to my knowledge, is a home furnishings
operation the leading customer of the newspaper. At times, we
also run large ads in papers as far away as Des Moines, Sioux
City and Kansas City - always with good results. It truly does
pay to advertise, as long as you have something worthwhile to
offer.
水牛城报纸我们赞扬广告的价值，而我们在NFM的政策则是证明我们所宣扬的
确实可行，过去三年来，NFM是奥玛哈世界先锋报的最大广告客户，(ROP是指
直接印在报纸而非夹报式的广告)，据我所知，除此之外没有一家报纸的主要广
告客户是家具商，同时我们也在堪萨斯等地区刊登广告，所得到的反应也相当不
错，广告当然有其效果，只要你所要介绍的东西值得推荐。
Mrs. B son, Louie, and his boys, Ron and Irv, complete the
winning Blumkin team. It a joy to work with this family. All
its members have character that matches their extraordinary
abilities.
B太太的儿子路易，还有他几个小孩组成了一支梦幻队伍，跟他们一起共事实在
是一种享受，所有的成员品格与才能兼具。
o Last year I stated unequivocally that pre-tax margins at
The Buffalo News would fall in 1988. That forecast would have
proved correct at almost any other newspaper our size or larger.
But Stan Lipsey - bless him - has managed to make me look
foolish.
去年我曾明确地表示水牛城日报1988年的税前盈余一定会下滑，事实证明要不
是有Stan Lipsey，结果可能会如我所预测，与其它同规模的报纸同样地沉沦，
很高兴Stan让我看起来很愚蠢。
Though we increased our prices a bit less than the industry
average last year, and though our newsprint costs and wage rates
rose in line with industry norms, Stan actually improved margins
a tad. No one in the newspaper business has a better managerial
record. He has achieved it, furthermore, while running a paper
that gives readers an extraordinary amount of news. We believe
that our .ewshole?percentage - the portion of the paper devoted
to news - is bigger than that of any other dominant paper of our
size or larger. The percentage was 49.5% in 1988 versus 49.8% in
1987. We are committed to keeping it around 50%, whatever the
level or trend of profit margins.
虽然我们去年我们调涨的价格较同业水准略低，同时印刷与工资成本调整的幅度
与同业一致，但Stan还是硬生生让毛利率又扩大一些，在新闻业没有其它人可
以像他这样有更好的经营绩效，且同时还能够让读者得到如此丰富的新闻，我们
相信我们自己的新闻比率，绝对是同样规模或甚至更大报纸中最高的，1988年
49.5%，不管获利状况如此，我们一定会努力将这个比率维持在50%上下。
Charlie and I have loved the newspaper business since we
were youngsters, and we have had great fun with the News in the
12 years since we purchased it. We were fortunate to find Murray
Light, a top-flight editor, on the scene when we arrived and he
has made us proud of the paper ever since.
查理跟我在年轻的时候就很热爱新闻事业，而买下水牛城报纸的12年来，让我
们渡过许多快乐时光，我们很幸运能够找到像Murray这样杰出的总编辑，让我
们一入主水牛城报纸后，便深深引以为傲。
o See Candies sold a record 25.1 million pounds in 1988.
Prospects did not look good at the end of October, but excellent
Christmas volume, considerably better than the record set in
1987, turned the tide.
喜斯糖果在1988年总共销售了2,510万磅重的糖果，本来在十月前整个销售
前景看起来不太乐观，但拜圣诞节旺季特别旺所致，整个局势跟着扭转。
As wee told you before, See business continues to become
more Christmas-concentrated. In 1988, the Company earned a
record 90% of its full-year profits in December: $29 million out
of $32.5 million before tax. (It enough to make you believe in
Santa Claus.) December deluge of business produces a modest
seasonal bulge in Berkshire corporate earnings. Another small
bulge occurs in the first quarter, when most World Book annuals
are sold.
就像我们以前告诉各位的，喜斯的糖果旺季越来越向圣诞节集中，去年光是12
月的税前获利2,900万就占全年度3,250万的90%，(如此你应该相信圣诞老
公公真的存在了吧)，十二月的旺季使得Berkshire第四季的盈余看起来相当不
错，另外第一季则是因为世界百科全书年度出版所以也会有一波小高潮。
Charlie and I put Chuck Huggins in charge of See about
five minutes after we bought the company. Upon reviewing his
record, you may wonder what took us so long.
查理跟我是在买下喜斯糖果五分钟之后，决定为Chuck Huggins负责这家公司
的管理，在看过他这些年来的绩效之后，你可能会怀疑为何我们要考虑那么久！
o At Fechheimer, the Heldmans - Bob, George, Gary, Roger and
Fred - are the Cincinnati counterparts of the Blumkins. Neither
furniture retailing nor uniform manufacturing has inherently
attractive economics. In these businesses, only exceptional
managements can deliver high returns on invested capital. And
that exactly what the five Heldmans do. (As Mets announcer
Ralph Kiner once said when comparing pitcher Steve Trout to his
father, Dizzy Trout, the famous Detroit Tigers pitcher: .here
a lot of heredity in that family.?
在费区海默，Heldmans家族就好象是B太太家族的辛辛那提版，不管是家具
业或者是制服业都不会很有吸引力的行业，也只有好的管理才能让股东们获得好
的投资报酬，这正是Heldmans五位家族成员为Berkshire所作的贡献，身为
职棒大都会队的发言人，Ralph Kiner曾说比较该队投手Steve Trout与他的父
亲Dizzy Trout也是老虎队名投手，你就会发现虎父无犬子。
Fechheimer made a fairly good-sized acquisition in 1988.
Charlie and I have such confidence in the business savvy of the
Heldman family that we okayed the deal without even looking at
it. There are very few managements anywhere - including those
running the top tier companies of the Fortune 500 - in which we
would exhibit similar confidence.
费区海默在1988年进行了一项规模颇大的购并案，查理跟我对于他们相当有信
心，所以我们连看都没有看就同意了这项交易，很少有经营阶层，即便是财星五
百大企业也好，能得到我们这样的信任。
Because of both this acquisition and some internal growth,
sales at Fechheimer should be up significantly in 1989.
因为这项购并案与内部本身的成长，费区海默的营业额可望大幅成长。
o All of the operations managed by Ralph Schey - World Book,
Kirby, and The Scott Fetzer Manufacturing Group - performed
splendidly in 1988. Returns on the capital entrusted to Ralph
continue to be exceptional.
所有Ralph Schey所管理的事业，包含世界百科全书、寇比吸尘器与史考特费
兹制造集团，在1988年的表现皆相当出色，投资其上的资金也获得相当不错的
报酬。
Within the Scott Fetzer Manufacturing Group, particularly
fine progress was recorded at its largest unit, Campbell
Hausfeld. This company, the country leading producer of small
and medium-sized air compressors, has more than doubled earnings
since 1986.
在史考特费兹制造集团当中，又以Campbell家用器具最突出，这家全美最大的
中小型压缩机自从1986年来每年盈余都呈倍数成长。
Unit sales at both Kirby and World Book were up
