Abstract: Against the backdrop of the deepening implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and the ongoing reform of the rural collective property rights system, the “separation of political and economic functions” has emerged as a key reform direction. This approach aims to address the long-standing conflation of administrative functions of village committees and economic functions of rural collective economic organizations. This paper focuses on the separate accounting reform within this context, examining the prevailing governance dilemma of “political-economic integration” in rural areas, while incorporating policy requirements and grassroots practices. The analysis reveals that the separation of accounts between rural collective economic organizations and village committees faces practical challenges, including the confusion of legal entities, unclear conditions for separate accounting, and disputes over asset division. In response to these problems, the paper proposes a three-pronged advancement path: clarifying the criteria for initiating separate accounting, standardizing the implementation of the separation process, and strengthening operational safeguard mechanisms. The study suggests that there is a gap between institutional supply and grassroots practice in the current reform of account separation, highlighting an urgent need for a compliant and operable account separation management scheme to support the high-quality development of the rural collective economy.

Key words: rural revitalization, reform of the rural collective property rights system, village-collective account separation, separate accounting management