It's Finished is a witty and erudite essay by MeFi lurker John Lanchester in The London Review of Books on how completely and utterly screwed the British economy is. In the process of laying out his case Lanchester touches on varied issues, such Scottish banknotes, why Alan Hollinghurst's phrase "tremendous, Basil Fawltyish lengths" is applicable to the reaction by the US and UK governments to the banking meltdown, the value destruction of corporate mergers, the invention of modern accounting, and why no one really knows how large a share of the failed banks is owned by governments.
posted by Kattullus on May 26, 2009 - 35 comments

Stuff Accountants Like -- As the US tax return deadline approaches, take an inside and humorous look at the professionals who you either love, hate, or whose revenue recognition principles you may blame for the mortgage crisis. Or maybe, perhaps, pity?
posted by CPAGirl on Apr 8, 2009 - 10 comments

Hard up for cash? Roll your own :P [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Feb 8, 2009 - 36 comments

Open Secrets - the trouble with Enron
posted by Gyan on Jan 2, 2007 - 68 comments

Peter Jackson sues New Line. Over money, naturally. Can 'the little hobbit that could' defeat the mysterious Dark Lordliness of Hollywood's Creative Accountants? Well, it worked for Stan Lee.
posted by Sparx on Mar 2, 2005 - 30 comments

The return of Ralph Snart...to the web and to print! This is Marc Hansen's outrageous story of a mild-mannered alcoholic accountant gone completely mental, featuring Dr. Goot (evil scientist and nemesis), Mr. Lizard (thanks to radioactive crickets) and Holly Hornswoggle (evil lab assistant and love interest). It originally ran from 1986 to 1994 and of course there is always the obligatory unofficial site.
posted by boost ventilator on Jun 11, 2004 - 6 comments

Mr. Civil Rights reaches out Other, bigger fish ex-CEOs of companies brought down to earth by major accounting, shall we say, woes, may be keeping quiet, even if they haven't been convicted of anything. But not former HealthSouth exec and would-be platinum girl group-manager Richard M. Scrushy, who not only has flaunted his wealth as of late, but produced a personal web site that plays up his humble Alabama roots and which, in a totally bizarre fashion, links his struggle to the Civil Rights Movement. (Note: The site's all screwed up on Mozilla, designed strictly for IE.)
posted by raysmj on Oct 30, 2003 - 7 comments

This week's most buried headline could be a real stinker this week for the Pentagon. Apparently over $1 trillion are missing as well as "dozens of tanks, missiles and planes."
posted by jackspace on May 19, 2003 - 25 comments

Enron course original documents - University of Chicago. Actg 494: Special topics in Accounting: Accounting and Disclosure After Enron
posted by sheauga on Sep 18, 2002 - 5 comments

You know the accounting meme has hit the wall when folk singers start to make songs about WorldCom. Any else got some good links to give people a chuckle about the economy? (Forgive me if I offend, this is my first post)
posted by phyrewerx on Aug 24, 2002 - 12 comments

Screw you worldcom, enron. In Australia we know how to make a loss. AU$11,962,000,000 in fact. One has to wonder how much of this is a "paper loss" or how much of this is "creative accounting for tax purposes". Or just where the hell did the money go?
posted by Neale on Aug 14, 2002 - 17 comments

You've got jail? The SEC is no longer alone in investigating accounting irregularities at AOL Time Warner. Tonight the "world's leading media and entertainment company" confirmed that the U.S. Justice Dept. has opened its own probe. This, one day after President Bush signed the so-called Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act (pdf of HR 3763) (summary). Tonight, however, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, including Senators Patrick Leahy, D-Vt and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa are criticizing the President for trying to weaken the corporate fraud bill before the ink is even dry.
posted by found missing on Jul 31, 2002 - 7 comments

The U.S. Army pays for lapdances. "In addition to the inappropriate purchases, the GAO said more than 1,200 Army employees wrote bad checks to pay their government credit card bills. Last year alone, that cost taxpayers $3.8 million in higher fees and lost rebates." You mean, the government practices bad accounting? Ron Paul points out that the Congress commits the worst accounting fraud of all. But the most important issue of all is, with the government paying for Strip Club tips, gambling, and wine, does this mean that God will no longer bless America?
posted by insomnyuk on Jul 18, 2002 - 18 comments

"The bigger the binge, the longer and more severe the hangover." A short history of accounting scandals and fraudulent bankruptcies that follow bubble economies.
posted by raaka on Jul 10, 2002 - 3 comments

It's VIVENDI scandal time ! :( One more company with "accounting trouble", not your mom and pop shop.
posted by elpapacito on Jul 2, 2002 - 17 comments

It is XEROX scandal time ! More or less 6B$ "accounting trouble".. they say "just 2B$" like it's monopoly money
posted by elpapacito on Jun 28, 2002 - 29 comments

How many more accounting scandals to go? A recent show "Bigger than Enron" on Frontline leads me to wonder, "How MUCH bigger than Enron?" Responses from viewers on that website include a number of accountants for big firms that insist that these practices are everyday business in accounting and that we have a lot more of this coming. Are we actually in the middle of the biggest market crash since 1929? What do you think? Just how bad could it get?
posted by muppetboy on Jun 25, 2002 - 35 comments

Farewell Arthur Andersen - I guess having one corporate basket case is a misfortune but two starts to look like carelessness. With tens of thousands of employees and pensions holders across the world, it's a disaster, for staff, pension holders and clients. Is this tough treatment "a gross abuse of government power" or a fitting reward for crooked practice?
posted by grahamwell on Mar 17, 2002 - 18 comments

It ain't just Enron -- This kind of pro forma reporting of "profits" is shifty, misleading, and common practice. Should us small investors be worried? Or do I need to be an accountant to know why this isn't a bad thing? And does this mean that there more Enrons out there, ready to implode in a pile of worthless paper?
posted by BitterOldPunk on Jan 31, 2002 - 14 comments

The most spectacular corporate imposion in decades. Without 9/11, the biggest news story in the past few weeks would have been the cataclysmic end of one of the 90's hottest companies, headed by one of the President's closest supporters, because of fraudulent accounting practices.
posted by Mid on Nov 28, 2001 - 18 comments