Reference no: EM133415936

1. One may argue that accounting came of age with the railroad. By 1850 British investors had invested more than $350 million in the railroads for thirty-eight companies. What were some of the challenges and advances in accounting that came with the railroad? Were the "robber barons" (e.g., Morgan, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, etc.) who owned and managed many of these early companies always transparent with their accounting records

2. In the beginning Chapter 11, Jacob Soll states The Reckoning "In hindsight, it is obvious that as accounting become more complex, so did the possibility for fraud. Thus two faces of accounting emerged in modern consciousness. Some thinkers began to mistrust accounting, seeing it as a tool for exploitation and fraud; others held it up as a model of modern rationality."

Why blame accounting for the way it was used? Was this fair? Is that still the case today?

3. An excerpt from The Reckoning states: "In 1999, with little public or investor protest, the U.S. government, in the name of economic freedom, replaced the Glass-Steagall Act with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allowed the consolidation of commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, and insurance companies."

What was the Glass-Steagall Act? What was it meant to do? What were the long term consequences of removing Glass-Steagall?

4. The Reckoning makes a very bold and somewhat controversial claim: "In spite of laws, regulations, and an active financial press, powerful forces are aligned against financial transparency. By the sheer complexity and scale of their operations, banks, corporations and government bodies have rendered themselves unauditable."

Do you agree or disagree and why? If this is true, what can we do to ensure all public companies can be properly audited?