Last Call For Financial Drunks

Are Super Executives corporate finance professionals are spending too much time at happy hour and not quite enough time… oh I don’t know – working? Figuring out a way NOT to tank the economy? Never mind their literal drunkeness, in general a careless, indulgent, and permissive attitude that seems to have taken over our once respectable institutions. Remember when accountants and bankers were highly respected professionals?

I’m not against anyone tossing a few back, just don’t puke on my 401k. The better we understand the world of high finance, the easier it will be to cut off the drunks before they wander into the street.

Focus on Corporate Financial Responsibility

When this blog started we focused solely on accounting, but what I propose is a full on intervention. What we need is a financial intervention. Here are a few guiding principles for this blog going forward. I hope you’ll join us for a good conversation, education, and a few laughs. Just don’t spill your drink.

• Financial information should be easier to understand.
  Have you tried reading an earnings statement lately? It’s almost like they don’t want us to know what’s going on. You shouldn’t need a degree in finance to be able to interpret the financial statements of public companies. Here we’re going to try and get to the bottom of all the finance-ease that separates the finance whizzes from the rest of us.
• If we notice the little things, maybe they won’t get so big.
  The SEC publishes all the actions and legal complaints they take against citizens. This includes stuff like busting up insider trading and Ponzi schemes. But you only hear about the really juicy stuff. I’ll try and shine a light on those financial scandals that just aren’t sexy enough for prime time. Ethics are free – unless you’re a criminal.
• If you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it.
  I get tired of watching the finance pundits on TV screaming at each other. If you watch carefully, you’ll see that the less they know what they’re talking about, the louder they scream. My background is in accounting, with a little law, finance, and economics thrown in. I don’t know it all, but I’m not afraid to ask. Together we’ll badger the pros until they break things down to an understandable level.

If there’s one good thing that’s come out of this whole financial crisis, it’s that more people are becoming interested and education on all things market and finance. Let’s toast to that!

Image Credit: booleansplit, Flickr