More Than a Numbers Game: A Brief History of Accounting - Hardcover

by Thomas A. King (Author)

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.

Front Jacket

Since Luca Pacioli wrote the first accounting text back in 1494, thousands of books have been published to explain the how's of accounting--how to value assets, audit financial statements, comply with tax laws, estimate product costs, evaluate corporate performance, and so on. Missing in this journey has been a work that discusses the major why's of accounting practice.

In More Than a Numbers Game: A Brief History of Accounting, author and financial expert Tom King fills this void by examining key issues and events that have transformed accounting from a tool used by American railroad managers to communicate with absent British investors into an enabler of corporate fraud during the Internet and telecom frenzy.

More Than a Numbers Game revolves around a history of ideas associated with accounting's use by U.S. corporations. Each chapter--which explores a controversial accounting topic that has emerged over the past century--is filled with vivid historical background and lively discussions of the people involved, to give relevance to the concepts covered. Simple examples and light humor make complex subjects understandable to the informed layperson.

This book not only examines the purposes and limitations of financial, cost, tax, and regulatory accounting, it also provides context for many of accounting's most divisive issues, including:

• Management complications that arise from inflation's uneven nature
• Consequences of managers' fear of showing earnings volatility
• The unsolved mystery of accounting forinternally developed intangible assets
• Why debt rose into and then fell out of favor with corporate management and their boards
• How compensation with options replaced debt as a governance tool in the 1990s
• How politics hobbled efforts to standardize accounting practice

Through engaging anecdotes, illustrative examples, and real-world case studies, More Than a Numbers Game also reveals how economics, finance, law, and business customs have contributed to accounting's overall development. With this book as your guide, you'll discover that accounting is not a static discipline, but an evolving tool full of idiosyncrasies.

More Than a Numbers Game takes a detailed look at more than one hundred years of corporate accounting history in the United States--from the initial use of double-entry bookkeeping to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)--and shows how accounting has solved numerous financial problems as well as created substantial controversy along the way.

Back Jacket

Praise for MORE THAN A NUMBERS GAME

"More Than a Numbers Game is a revelatory history of how accounting conventions have shaped business reality, for good and ill."
--Justin Fox, Editor at Large, Fortune

"Mr. King's book should be of interest to both those who have lived through the accounting debates and debacles of the past half century and those just beginning their business careers. By focusing on a dozen or so major developments, particularly those with negative consequences, the book helps explain why good financial information is so critical to capital markets. Equal doses of insight and humor make this an easy-to-read, but hard-to-forget summary of an important business topic."
--Dennis R. Beresford, Ernst & Young Executive Professor of Accounting, The University of Georgia, and former chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (1987-97)

"More Than a Numbers Game is a must-read for accounting students looking for a supplement to traditional textbooks. It offers a business perspective to accounting, providing readers with a holistic overview of taxes, cost accounting, regulation, as well as more traditional financial reporting topics."
--Philip A. Laskawy, retired chairman and CEO, Ernst & Young

"Tom King provides even the non-accountant a fascinating look at how accounting rules and practices have evolved into the way corporations are valued today. He is particularly effective in analyzing the 'earnings game' and the growing role of intangible assets in the valuation process."
--Louis M. Thompson Jr., President and CEO, National Investor Relations Institute

"Tom King takes a very important topic in today's world, accounting, and puts it into a perspective that sheds an entirely new light on the importance of accounting and the intrinsic shortcomings of the profession. Whether you use GAAP accounting, do quarterly earnings, or are a private company, there is more than meets the eye to the accounting profession. King's book is an invaluable piece of work to demystify what tends to be a mystery."
--Jeff Joerres, Chairman and CEO, Manpower Inc.

Author Biography

THOMAS A. KING is treasurer of Progressive Insurance, which is regarded as one of the most innovative companies in the insurance business. He grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, and studied liberal arts at Harvard College. King worked for three years on the New York audit staff of Arthur Andersen & Co., earned an MS in accounting from New York University, and obtained CPA and CMA certification. After receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School, he joined Progressive Insurance in Cleveland. King spent ten years in marketing and general management before returning to accounting. Since then, he has served as corporate controller, investment strategist, and treasurer. At Progressive, King helped craft financial policies that support business objectives and managed investor relations when the company became the first to report monthly financial results.