The Big Four The Curious Past And Perilous Future Of Global Accounting Monopoly

Author : Ian D. Gow
Publisher : Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1523098031
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Big Four written by Ian D. Gow and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2018-08-28 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Messrs. Gow and Kells have made an invaluable contribution, writing in an amused tone that nevertheless acknowledges the firms' immense power and the seriousness of their neglect of traditional responsibilities. 'The Big Four' will appeal to all those interested in the future of the profession--and of capitalism itself." —Jane Gleeson-White, Wall Street Journal With staffs that are collectively larger than the Russian army and combined revenues of over $130 billion a year, the Big Four accounting firms—Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG—are a keystone of global commerce. But leading scholar Ian Gow and award-winning author Stuart Kells warn that a house of cards may be about to fall. Stretching back to the Medicis in Renaissance Florence, this book is a fascinating story of wealth, power, and luck. The founders of the Big Four lived surprisingly colorful lives. Samuel Price, for example, married his own niece. Between the world wars, Nicholas Waterhouse collected postage stamps while also hosting decadent parties in his fashionable London home. All four firms have endured major calamities in recent decades. There have been hundreds of court cases and legal prosecutions for failed audits, tax scandals, and breaches of independence. The firms have come so close to “extinction level events” that regulators have required them to prepare “living wills.” And today, the Big Four face an uncertain future—thanks to their push into China, their vulnerability to digital disruption and competition, and the hazards of providing traditional services in a new era of transparency. This account of the past, present, and likely future of the Big Four is essential reading for anyone perplexed or fascinated by professional services, working or considering working in the industry, or simply curious about the fate of the global economy.

Author : Stuart Kells
Publisher : Black Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1743820445
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Big Four written by Stuart Kells and published by Black Inc.. This book was released on 2018-05-03 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Across the globe, the so-called Big Four accounting and audit firms – Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG – are massively influential. Together, they earn more than US$100 billion annually and employ almost one million people. In many profound ways, they have changed how we work, how we manage, how we invest and how we are governed. Stretching back centuries, their history is a fascinating story of wealth, power and luck. But today, the Big Four face an uncertain future – thanks to their push into China; their vulnerability to digital disruption and competition; and the hazards of providing traditional services in a new era of transparency. Both colourful and authoritative, this account of the past, present and likely future of the Big Four is essential reading for anyone perplexed or fascinated by professional services, working in the industry, contemplating joining a professional services firm, or simply curious about the fate of the global economy. Stuart Kells is a Melbourne-based author. His history of Penguin Books, Penguin and the Lane Brothers, won the Ashurst Australian Business Literature Prize. Ian D. Gow is a professor at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Melbourne Centre for Corporate Governance and Regulation. He previously taught at Harvard Business School.

Author : Jane Gleeson-White
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393088960
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Created Modern Finance written by Jane Gleeson-White and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the history of accounting and double-entry bookkeeping from Mesopotamia to the Renaissance to modern finance and explains how a system developed that could work across all trades and nations.

Author : Barbara Ley Toffler
Publisher : Currency
ISBN 13 : 0767913833
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Final Accounting written by Barbara Ley Toffler and published by Currency. This book was released on 2004-04-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A withering exposé of the unethical practices that triggered the indictment and collapse of the legendary accounting firm. Arthur Andersen's conviction on obstruction of justice charges related to the Enron debacle spelled the abrupt end of the 88-year-old accounting firm. Until recently, the venerable firm had been regarded as the accounting profession's conscience. In Final Accounting, Barbara Ley Toffler, former Andersen partner-in-charge of Andersen's Ethics & Responsible Business Practices consulting services, reveals that the symptoms of Andersen's fatal disease were evident long before Enron. Drawing on her expertise as a social scientist and her experience as an Andersen insider, Toffler chronicles how a culture of arrogance and greed infected her company and led to enormous lapses in judgment among her peers. Final Accounting exposes the slow deterioration of values that led not only to Enron but also to the earlier financial scandals of other Andersen clients, including Sunbeam and Waste Management, and illustrates the practices that paved the way for the accounting fiascos at WorldCom and other major companies. Chronicling the inner workings of Andersen at the height of its success, Toffler reveals "the making of an Android," the peculiar process of employee indoctrination into the Andersen culture; how Androids—both accountants and consultants--lived the mantra "keep the client happy"; and how internal infighting and "billing your brains out" rather than quality work became the all-important goals. Toffler was in a position to know when something was wrong. In her earlier role as ethics consultant, she worked with over 60 major companies and was an internationally renowned expert at spotting and correcting ethical lapses. Toffler traces the roots of Andersen's ethical missteps, and shows the gradual decay of a once-proud culture. Uniquely qualified to discuss the personalities and principles behind one of the greatest shake-ups in United States history, Toffler delivers a chilling report with important ramifications for CEOs and individual investors alike.

Author : Jerry Maginnis
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119855284
Total Pages : 182 pages
Book Rating : 4.86/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Advice for a Successful Career in the Accounting Profession written by Jerry Maginnis and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practical guidance to optimize the benefits of your accounting degree—no matter what stage of your career! Originally conceived and designed to provide helpful advice to college and university accounting majors and early-career professionals, this book evolved into a valuable resource for those groups as well as others who may be further along in their accounting careers. It contains many practical examples and real-life experiences from a long and successful career in the profession that you won't find in any accounting, auditing, or tax textbook. And it is written in a fun and engaging style with a simple goal in mind: to share lessons learned and insights that will help accountants of all ages optimize their career opportunities! Jerry Maginnis, CPA, the former Office Managing Partner for the Philadelphia office of KPMG, one of the "Big Four" Accounting Firms, currently serves as the "Accounting Executive in Residence" at Rowan University in Southern New Jersey. In this role, he has counseled and mentored dozens of students and early career professionals. The book leverages Jerry's real-world experience and his advice and counsel is delivered in a fashion that will make you feel like you are having a one on one conversation with him! Readers will also enjoy: Advice delivered concisely: each chapter is succinct and provides essential takeaways and action plans for all points in a career A guidebook that is efficiently organized into three sections—for college and university students, for early-career professionals, for accountants of all ages and experience levels—allowing the reader to focus on the sections that are most applicable to them An excellent refresher or reminder of concepts or principles that are important to even the most successful and experienced accountants Loaded with "real world" tips and techniques, Advice for a Successful Career in the Accounting Profession is an ideal resource for accountants and auditors, tax and advisory professionals, and University professors and high school instructors teaching Accounting, undeclared business majors, underrepresented populations, and students aspiring to become CPAs.

Author : Thomas A. King
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118044614
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.12/5 ( download)

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Download or read book More Than a Numbers Game written by Thomas A. King and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-17 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world certainly suffers no shortage of accounting texts. The many out there help readers prepare, audit, interpret and explain corporate financial statements. What has been missing is a book offering context and discussion for divisive issues such as taxes, debt, options, and earnings volatility. King addresses the why of accounting instead of the how, providing practitioners and students with a highly readable history of U.S. corporate accounting. More Than a Numbers Game: A Brief History of Accounting was inspired by Arthur Levitt's landmark 1998 speech delivered at New York University. The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman described the too-little challenged custom of earnings management and presaged the breakdown in the US corporate accounting three years later. Somehow, over a one-hundred year period, accounting morphed from a tool used by American railroad managers to communicate with absent British investors into an enabler of corporate fraud. How this happened makes for a good business story. This book is not another description of accounting scandals. Instead it offers a history of ideas. Each chapter covers a controversial topic that emerged over the past century. Historical background and discussion of people involved give relevance to concepts discussed. The author shows how economics, finance, law and business customs contributed to accounting's development. Ideas presented come from a career spent working with accounting information.

Author : Richard Brooks
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781786490285
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Bean Counters written by Richard Brooks and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behind the boring image, the world's accountants are running the world for their own benefit.

Author : Michael S. Rothberg
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1452022275
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book American Greed written by Michael S. Rothberg and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2010-06-28 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Greed is both a personal and professional look at how greed caused the Great Recession in 2008.Leading up to this particular recession were steep declines in the housing market combined with the banking system sliding to the verge of collapse. Thenews of the day were full of stories about the mismanagement of risk at financial service companies who nevertheless paid out huge bonuses to executives, rewarding them for ruining their own companies. Americans were largely over-extended, with tremendous amounts of debt on charge cards and mortgages they couldnt afford, combined with rising unemployment, tightening credit and increasing expenses such as gasoline, electricity, and food. All of these elements made for the perfect economic storm. As an Investment Advisor Representative for MetLife since 1992, I have seen how greed has impacted peoples lives. I witnessed patterns of abuse, the inability of people to plan for anything financial or personal and in some cases situations of illegalities. By meeting with numerous people over a long period of time, I gained first hand exposure and bore witness to what was happening in a very unique and particular way. At the time I was writing this book, I had 1,300 clients and met with thousands of prospects over the years to assist them with retirement planning.

Author : Krish Bhaskar
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000007863
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Disruption in the Audit Market written by Krish Bhaskar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-16 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focussing on the dominance of the Big Four auditing firms – PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG – this concise volume provides an authoritative critical assessment of the state and future of the audit market, currently the subject of much debate and the focus of significant government enquiries. Drawing on extensive research and a vast collection of evidence from interviews with insiders, experts and users, it explores the key issues of audit quality, independence, choice and the growing expectation gap. Just as disruptive technologies are overturning other established sectors, this book explores their impact on accounting, financial reporting and auditing. It questions whether the Big Four-dominated audit market is prepared not only for the inevitable disruption of new technologies, but also the challenges of negative public perceptions, cynicism about regulation and demands for greater transparency. In the context of increasing high-profile corporate failures, this book provides a compelling scrutiny of the industry’s failings and present difficulties, and the impact of future disruption. At this crucial time, it will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals in accounting and auditing, as well as policy makers and regulators.

Author : Martin S. Fridson
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0471264601
Total Pages : 414 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Financial Statement Analysis written by Martin S. Fridson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2002-10-01 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for Financial Statement Analysis A Practitioner's Guide Third Edition "This is an illuminating and insightful tour of financial statements, how they can be used to inform, how they can be used to mislead, and how they can be used to analyze the financial health of a company." -Professor Jay O. Light Harvard Business School "Financial Statement Analysis should be required reading for anyone who puts a dime to work in the securities markets or recommends that others do the same." -Jack L. Rivkin Executive Vice President (retired) Citigroup Investments "Fridson and Alvarez provide a valuable practical guide for understanding, interpreting, and critically assessing financial reports put out by firms. Their discussion of profits-'quality of earnings'-is particularly insightful given the recent spate of reporting problems encountered by firms. I highly recommend their book to anyone interested in getting behind the numbers as a means of predicting future profits and stock prices." -Paul Brown Chair-Department of Accounting Leonard N. Stern School of Business, NYU "Let this book assist in financial awareness and transparency and higher standards of reporting, and accountability to all stakeholders." -Patricia A. Small Treasurer Emeritus, University of California Partner, KCM Investment Advisors "This book is a polished gem covering the analysis of financial statements. It is thorough, skeptical and extremely practical in its review." -Daniel J. Fuss Vice Chairman Loomis, Sayles & Company, LP