[PEN-L:27315] Re: decline and fall of US business model?

["Carl Remick" <carlremick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: "Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> determined to distort their companies' financial results."
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/27/business/27GLOB.html
>
> U.S. Businesses Dim as Models for Foreigners
> By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Paradigms lost, alas!  What strikes me as a real hoot in this article is the 
chest-thumping by various Euro biz leaders in contrasting thie own virtue 
with the exceptional commercial depravity of their American counterparts.  
But as I understand it, the "simple and fairly compact list of basic 
[accounting] principles" that Andrews cites as the common standard in Europe 
lead to pretty minimal disclosure.  And when it comes to financial 
reporting, if you say very little, you don't have to lie very much to get 
by.  I'm not sure secrecy is an improvement over fraud in conducting 
business affairs.

Carl



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