Champion of Accounting and Accountability‎

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Champion of Accounting and Accountability?

Wow. Great article in Barron's. I went through the paper edition while waiting for a terminal at the library. You might not be able to read it online. This alternate link might work:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111904571704577404100776242484.html

Feature | SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2012 Champion of Accounting and Accountability
By GARY WEISS

A master accountant favors stringent enforcement of Sarbanes-Oxley to reduce the chances of more debacles like those at JPMorgan Chase and AIG.

The topic of discussion was banks, and Abraham J. Briloff was warming to his subject.

Many have complained, he observed, "that these powerful financial institutions are withholding the data which are really vital for the full comprehension of the spectrum of activities in which the entities are engaged." What's needed, he asserted, wasn't just full disclosure, but a corporate accountability commission—a government body that would look out for the interests of the "total economic society."

A bit of Monday-morning quarterbacking about JPMorgan Chase's recent $2 billion-plus fiasco? Or a criticism of the public-be-damned attitude that figured in the 2008-2009 financial crisis? Hardly. The quotes aren't hindsight but prophecy: They're from his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on July 11, 1975.
....

In his politics, Briloff is an unabashed liberal Democrat who vividly remembers Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933, and is aghast at what he believes to be the callousness toward the poor of the Republican candidates for president. He is troubled by income inequality and feels a sense of kinship with the Occupy Wall Street movement.