Calling all parties: Now is the time to come to the aid of the balance sheet

Recently, accountants were instructed by President Bush to get their acts together. Indeed, the Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and other recent corporate financial reporting failures have prompted a loss of faith in accountants and accounting. To a large extent, this loss of faith involves corporate balance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBusiness horizons Vol. 48; no. 4; pp. 325 - 335
Main Authors Haskins, Mark E., Sack, Robert J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Greenwich Elsevier Inc 01.07.2005
Elsevier Science Ltd
Subjects
Accountants
Alliances
Balance sheets
Managers
Organizational behavior
Professional responsibilities
Reforms
Shortcomings
Studies
United States > US
Managers
Shortcomings
Balance sheets
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Summary:Recently, accountants were instructed by President Bush to get their acts together. Indeed, the Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and other recent corporate financial reporting failures have prompted a loss of faith in accountants and accounting. To a large extent, this loss of faith involves corporate balance sheets and it is warranted. Corporate managers and shareholders have a vested interest in addressing balance sheet shortcomings. This article highlights the pervasive shortcomings of contemporary corporate balance sheets, identifies the underlying foundational tensions creating those shortcomings, offers proposals to address those tensions, and discusses the potential implications of our proposals.
ISSN:0007-6813
1873-6068
DOI:10.1016/j.bushor.2004.12.001