The Reckoning

The Reckoning
Author :
Publisher : Basic Books
Total Pages : 314
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780465036639
ISBN-13 : 0465036635
Rating : 4/5 (635 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Reckoning by : Jacob Soll

Download or read book The Reckoning written by Jacob Soll and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-04-29 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “brilliant” (Los Angeles Review of Books) history of accounting, showing how financial and political accountability has shaped the rise and fall of nations and empires Whether building a road or fighting a war, leaders from ancient Mesopotamia to the present have relied on financial accounting to track their state's assets and guide its policies. Basic accounting tools such as auditing and double-entry bookkeeping form the basis of modern capitalism and the nation-state. Yet our appreciation for accounting and its formative role throughout history remains minimal at best-and we remain ignorant at our peril. Poor or risky practices can shake, and even bring down, entire societies. In The Reckoning, historian and MacArthur "Genius" Award-winner Jacob Soll presents a sweeping history of accounting, drawing on a wealth of examples from over a millennia of human history to reveal how accounting has shaped kingdoms, empires, and entire civilizations. The Medici family of 15th century Florence used the double-entry method to win the loyalty of their clients, but eventually began to misrepresent their accounts, ultimately contributing to the economic decline of the Florentine state itself. In the 17th and 18th centuries, European rulers shunned honest accounting, understanding that accurate bookkeeping would constrain their spending and throw their legitimacy into question. And in fact, when King Louis XVI's director of finances published the crown's accounts in 1781, his revelations provoked a public outcry that helped to fuel the French Revolution. When transparent accounting finally took hold in the 19th Century, the practice helped England establish a global empire. But both inept and willfully misused accounting persist, as the catastrophic Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Recession of 2008 have made all too clear. A masterwork of economic and political history, and a radically new perspective on the recent past, The Reckoning compels us to see how accounting is an essential instrument of great institutions and nations-and one that, in our increasingly transparent and interconnected world, has never been more vital.


The Reckoning Related Books

A Great Reckoning
Language: en
Pages: 400
Authors: Louise Penny
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-08-30 - Publisher: Macmillan

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The next novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.
The Reckoning
Language: en
Pages: 314
Authors: Jacob Soll
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-04-29 - Publisher: Basic Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A “brilliant” (Los Angeles Review of Books) history of accounting, showing how financial and political accountability has shaped the rise and fall of nation
The Reckoning
Language: en
Pages: 156
Authors: Mary L. Trump
Categories: Psychology
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-08-17 - Publisher: St. Martin's Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller America is suffering from PTSD—The Reckoning diagnoses its core causes and helps us begin the healing proc
Reckoning
Language: en
Pages: 385
Authors: Kerry Wilkinson
Categories: Juvenile Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-07 - Publisher: Macmillan

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This first book in a new dystopian trilogy begins the story of one girl's determination to survive the whims of a cruel king whom she has been chosen to serve.
The Reckoning
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-01-24 - Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

'Yrsa is a magnificent writer' Karin Slaughter 'The queen of Icelandic thriller writers' Guardian A chilling note written by a thirteen-year-old predicting the