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Accounting is not merely compliance or “dry and boring” paperwork; it is the language through which economic reality is translated into decisions, incentives, and valuation—from the discipline of double-entry bookkeeping and the non-negotiable logic that debits must equal credits, to the practical demand that leaders “know the numbers—cold.” The voices assembled here treat accounting as an information system that aggregates facts for decision-making, a measurement regime that predictably shapes behavior, and the starting point—though only a crude approximation—for business valuation and the idea of capital itself. They also underscore that financial information must be communicated not only to investors and lenders but to employees, and that competence in quantitative thinking supports judgment in the ambiguous, qualitative terrain where real financial choices are made. Above all, these quotes confront the stakes of integrity: transparency can reveal volatility rather than create it, but when accounting is bent toward appearance, gimmickry, or “creative” fraud, public trust in corporate records is jeopardized—and with it, confidence in markets and institutions.
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| image = johann-wolfgang-von-goethe.jpg
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| text = “DoubleDouble-entry bookkeeping… is one of the finest inventions of the human mind, and every prudent master of a house should introduce it into his economy.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Second Luca Pacioli Lecture |url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2007/html/sp071114.en.html |website=European Central Bank |publisher=European Central Bank |date=2007 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (through a character in *Wilhelm Meister’s Theatrical Calling*) {{Johann Wolfgang von Goethe/attribution}}
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| image = catherine-schrand.jpg
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| text = “AccountingAccounting is the preparation and generation of information and the aggregation of that information in a way that’s useful in decision-making.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Learning to Use Financial Accounting Numbers Strategically |url=https://globalyouth.wharton.upenn.edu/articles/business/learning-to-use-financial-accounting-numbers-strategically/ |website=Wharton Global Youth Program |publisher=Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania |date=2014 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Catherine Schrand, Wharton accounting professor {{Catherine Schrand/attribution}}
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| image = warren-buffett.jpg
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| text = “IfIf you’re interested in business, I definitely think you ought to learn all the accounting you can by the time you’re in your early 20s. Accounting is the language of business.”<ref>{{cite web |title=1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting Transcript |url=https://www.cnbc.com/1998/05/04/berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting-1998.html |website=CNBC Buffett Archive |publisher=CNBC |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Warren Buffett, investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = People are accustomed to thinking of accounting as dry and boring, a necessary evil used primarily to prepare financial reports and survive audits, but that is because accounting is something that has become taken for granted.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ries |first=Eric |title=The Startup Way |publisher=Crown |date=2017}}</ref>
| author = Eric Ries, Author {{Eric Ries/attribution}}
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| image = mary-archer.jpg
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| text = It sounds extraordinary, but it’s a fact that balance sheets can make fascinating reading.<ref>{{cite web |title=10 Funny and Inspirational Quotes for Accountants |url=https://www.btpartners.com/technology-blogs/10-funny-and-inspirational-quotes-for-accountants |website=BT Partners |date=2020-05-05 |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Mary Archer, British scientist {{Mary Archer/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = I have no use for bodyguards, but I have very specific use for two highly trained certified public accountants.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elvis, Taxes, and the CPA Dilemma: Why Your Bodyguard Should Be an Accountant |url=https://www.jsmorlu.com/ceo-corner/elvis-tax-cpa/ |author=John S. Morlu II |date=2025-12-01 |website=JS Morlu Blog |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Elvis Presley, American singer and actor {{Elvis Presley/attribution}}
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| image = ed-dehaan.jpg
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| text = “WeWe think a lot about how to communicate financial information to our investors and lenders… We should think more about how we communicate it to our employees so that they understand it.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Employees Care About Organization Finances—but Do They Understand Them? |url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/employees-care-about-organization-finances-do-they-understand-them |website=Stanford Graduate School of Business |publisher=Stanford University |date=2020 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Ed deHaan, accounting professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business {{Ed deHaan/attribution}}
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| image = harold-geneen.jpg
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| text = “ToTo be good at your business, you have to know the numbers—cold.”<ref>{{cite book |author=Donald E. Kieso; Jerry J. Weygandt; Paul D. Kimmel |title=Financial Accounting |publisher=Wiley |edition=6th |date=2005 |pages=Preface}}</ref>
| author = Harold Geneen, former chairman of ITT Corporation {{Harold Geneen/attribution}}
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| image = ed-dehaan.jpg
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| text = “It’sIt’s wild that we are not teaching all of our middle schoolers and high schoolers how to manage household finance, understanding things like credit and interest and risk… You need to go in recognizing the house always wins on average… We must learn to speak the language of business.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Financial Literacy Starts Young |url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/financial-literacy-starts-young |website=Stanford Graduate School of Business |publisher=Stanford University |date=2021 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Ed deHaan, accounting professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business {{Ed deHaan/attribution}}
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| image = charlie-munger.jpg
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| text = “ObviouslyObviously, you have to know accounting. It’s the language of practical business life. It was a very useful thing to deliver to civilization… double-entry bookkeeping was a hell of an invention… although accounting is the starting place, it’s only a crude approximation.”<ref>{{cite web |title=A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom |url=https://ritholtz.com/2014/09/charles-mungers-speech-at-usc-business-school-1994/ |website=The Big Picture |publisher=Ritholtz Wealth Management |date=1994 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway {{Charlie Munger/attribution}}
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| image = luca-pacioli.jpg
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| text = “TheThe books cannot be closed unless the debits equal the credits; when the debit and credit have been separately summed, the two sums shall be equal.”<ref>{{cite book |author=Luca Pacioli |title=Paciolo on Accounting |translator=W. W. Cooper and Yuji Ijiri |publisher=Richard D. Irwin |date=1963 |pages=175}}</ref>
| author = Luca Pacioli, Renaissance mathematician and “father of accounting” {{Luca Pacioli/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = The word accounting comes from the word accountability. If you are going to be rich, you need to be accountable for your money.<ref>{{cite web |title=Accounts Payable Quotes: Advice, Sayings, and Accounting Knowledge from the Experts |url=https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/accounting/accounts-payable-quotes.shtml |website=NetSuite |publisher=Oracle Corp. |date=2020-11-20 |author=Bridget McCrea |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Robert Kiyosaki, author of ''Rich Dad Poor Dad'' {{Robert Kiyosaki/attribution}}
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| image = eliyahu-goldratt.jpg
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| text = “TellTell me how you will measure me, and I will tell you how I behave. If you measure me in an illogical way… do not complain about illogical behavior.”<ref>{{cite book |author=Eliyahu M. Goldratt |title=The Haystack Syndrome: Sifting Information Out of the Data Ocean |publisher=North River Press |date=1990 |pages=Chapter 8}}</ref>
| author = Eliyahu Goldratt, management theorist and author of the Theory of Constraints {{Eliyahu Goldratt/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = Capital isn’t this pile of money sitting somewhere; it’s an accounting construct.<ref>{{cite news |title=Why Warren Buffett Is Hiding $61 Billion in Plain Sight |url=https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/07/20/according-to-warren-buffett-accounting-numbers-are.aspx |work=The Motley Fool |date=2014-07-20 |author=John Maxfield |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Bethany McLean, American journalist {{Bethany McLean/attribution}}
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| image = warren-buffett.jpg
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| text = “ManagersManagers and investors must recognize that accounting numbers are the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 1982 Annual Shareholder Letter |url=https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1982.html |website=BerkshireHathaway.com |publisher=Berkshire Hathaway |date=1983 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Warren Buffett, investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = Companies run by engineers don’t make money, but companies run by accountants don’t make anything at all.<ref>{{cite web |title=Accounts Payable Quotes: Advice, Sayings, and Accounting Knowledge from the Experts |url=https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/accounting/accounts-payable-quotes.shtml |website=NetSuite |publisher=Oracle Corp. |date=2020-11-20 |author=Bridget McCrea |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Peter Krueger {{Peter Krueger/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = You have to understand accounting and you have to understand the nuances of accounting. It’s the language of business and it’s an imperfect language, but unless you are willing to put in the effort to learn accounting – how to read and interpret financial statements – you really shouldn’t select stocks yourself.<ref>{{cite book |last=Buffett |first=Mary |title=Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Search for the Company with a Durable Competitive Advantage |publisher=Scribner |date=2008}}</ref>
| author = Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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| image = charlie-munger.jpg
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| text = “CarlCarl Braun did not know how to read a profit-and-loss statement or a balance sheet to save his life. He would say, ‘Our standard accounting method is asinine. We’re building oil refineries, for God’s sake. Accounting costs for all our corrosion costs as if they were an ordinary cost like office supplies. That’s crazy. We must integrate corrosion costs right into the balance sheet.’”’<ref>{{cite web |title=A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom |url=https://ritholtz.com/2014/09/charles-mungers-speech-at-usc-business-school-1994/ |website=The Big Picture |publisher=Ritholtz Wealth Management |date=1994 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway {{Charlie Munger/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = To be successful, you should concentrate on the world of companies, not arcane accounting mathematics.<ref>{{cite web |title=The world’s best investors offer a secret on how to outperform the market in the long-run |url=https://www.valens-research.com/investor-essentials-daily/upld-upland-software-worlds-best-investors-offer-secret-outperform-market-long-run/ |website=Valens Research |date=2021-10-26 |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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| image = diane-garnick.jpg
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| text = “AccountingAccounting does not make corporate earnings or balance sheets more volatile. Accounting just increases the transparency of volatility in earnings.”<ref>{{cite news |title=The End of Mark-to-Market Accounting? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/09/the-end-of-mark-to-market-accounting/8790/ |work=The Atlantic |author=Megan McArdle |date=2008-09-30 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Diane Garnick, investment strategist at Invesco {{Diane Garnick/attribution}}
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| image = charlie-munger.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “ProperProper accounting is like engineering. You need a margin of safety. Thank God we don’t design bridges and airplanes the way we do accounting.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Chatting With Charlie: The Mark Twain of Finance |url=https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-lawyer/articles/chatting-with-charlie-the-mark-twain-of-finance/ |website=Stanford Lawyer |publisher=Stanford Law School |date=2003 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway {{Charlie Munger/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = It has been my experience that competency in mathematics, both in numerical manipulation and in understanding its conceptual foundations, enhances a person’s ability to handle the more ambiguous and qualitative relationships that dominate our day-to-day financial decision-making.<ref>{{cite web |title=Financial education |url=https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2003/20030403/default.htm |website=Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System |publisher=Federal Reserve |date=2003-04-03 |author=Alan Greenspan |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve {{Alan Greenspan/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = I thought I could start over, you see. But now I know you can never start over. Not really. You think you have control, but you are like a fly in somebody else's web. Sometimes I think that's why I like accounting. All day, you are only dealing with numbers. You add them, multiply them, and if you are careful, you will always have a solution. There's a sequence there. An order. With numbers, you can have control.<ref>{{cite book |last=Obama |first=Barack |title=Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance |publisher=Times Books |date=1995}}</ref>
| author = Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States {{Barack Obama/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = Life is like accounting, everything must be balanced.<ref>no primary source; widely attributed to Gail Godwin on quotes sites</ref>
| author = Gail Godwin {{Gail Godwin/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = Managers thinking about accounting issues should never forget one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite riddles: How many legs does a dog have, if you call a tail a leg? The answer: Four, because calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.<ref>{{cite web |title=Warren Buffett Says This 1 Simple Habit Is the Key to Success. Here Are 19 Times He Did It in Public |url=https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/warren-buffett-says-this-1-simple-habit-is-key-to-success-here-are-19-times-he-did-it-in-public.html |author=Bill Murphy Jr. |date=2020-02-14 |website=Inc. |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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| image = cormac-mccarthy.jpg
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| text = People don’t pay attention. And then one day there’s an accounting. And after that, nothing is the same.<ref>{{cite book |last=McCarthy |first=Cormac |title=No Country for Old Men |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |date=2005}}</ref>
| author = Cormac McCarthy, American novelist {{Cormac McCarthy/attribution}}
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| image = arthur-levitt.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “WeWe must not let pressures to satisfy Wall Street expectations or unrealistic demands to deliver a certain quarterly earnings result lead us to compromise the quality of our accounting and financial reporting. We must adhere to the highest quality standards.”<ref>{{cite web |title=A Partnership for the Public Trust |url=https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/1998/1998-89 |website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |publisher=SEC |date=1998-09-28 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Arthur Levitt, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission {{Arthur Levitt/attribution}}
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| image = byron-woodside.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “History, common sense and experience tell us that at the heart of our markets are faith and trust in the honesty of corporate financial records. One who weakens that trust without good cause does no one a service.”<ref>{{cite web |title=A Partnership for the Public Trust |url=https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/1998/1998-89 |website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |publisher=SEC |date=1998-09-28 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Byron Woodside, former SEC commissioner (as quoted by Arthur Levitt) {{Byron Woodside/attribution}}
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| image = warren-buffett.jpg
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| text = In the long run, management stressing accounting appearance over economic substance usually achieves little of either.<ref>{{cite web |title=68Chairman's InspirationalLetter Quotes on- Accounting1981 |url=https://graciousquoteswww.berkshirehathaway.com/accountingletters/1981.html |publisher=Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |date=1982-02-26 |access-date=2025-12-2631}}</ref>
| author = Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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| image = luca-pacioli.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “WhenWhen any cunning man keeps two books, one with honest entries and the other with false, he hides the truth, and you cannot rely on it; therefore be careful to keep your books with truth and integrity.”<ref>{{cite book |author=Luca Pacioli |title=Paciolo on Accounting |translator=W. W. Cooper and Yuji Ijiri |publisher=Richard D. Irwin |date=1963 |pages=12}}</ref>
| author = Luca Pacioli, Renaissance mathematician and “father of accounting” {{Luca Pacioli/attribution}}
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| image = arthur-levitt.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “WhenWhen accounting practices are defined more by gimmickry than by their representation of underlying business conditions, public trust is jeopardized.”<ref>{{cite web |title=A Partnership for the Public Trust |url=https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/1998/1998-89 |website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |publisher=SEC |date=1998-09-28 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Arthur Levitt, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission {{Arthur Levitt/attribution}}
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| image = charlie-munger.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “CreativeCreative accounting is an absolute curse to a civilization. One could argue that double-entry bookkeeping was one of history’s great advances. Using accounting for fraud and folly is a disgrace. In a democracy, it often takes a scandal to trigger reform. Enron was the most obvious example of a business culture gone wrong in a long, long time.”<ref>{{cite webbook |last=Munger |first=Charles T. |title=68Poor InspirationalCharlie's QuotesAlmanack: onThe AccountingWit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger |urlpublisher=https://graciousquotesDonning Company Pub.com/accounting/ |access-date=2025-12-262008}}</ref>
| author = Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway {{Charlie Munger/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = Never call an accountant a credit to his profession; a good accountant is a debit to his profession.<ref>{{cite web |title=Get to Know Conductor. We Think You’ll Like (and Trust) It. |url=https://harmonate.com/get-to-know-conductor-we-think-youll-like-and-trust-it/ |date=2021-04-23 |website=Harmonate Blog |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist {{Charles Lyell/attribution}}
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| image = arthur-levitt.jpg
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| text = “WeWe must guard the integrity of the process. In doing so we will strengthen investor confidence, achieve a higher quality of financial reporting and serve the best interests of our Nation.”<ref>{{cite web |title=A Partnership for the Public Trust |url=https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/1998/1998-89 |website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |publisher=SEC |date=1998-09-28 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Arthur Levitt, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission {{Arthur Levitt/attribution}}
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| image = charlie-munger.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “II think Enron is the first shoe to drop. There’s a kind of Gresham’s law, where bad conduct drives out good conduct.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Chatting With Charlie: The Mark Twain of Finance |url=https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-lawyer/articles/chatting-with-charlie-the-mark-twain-of-finance/ |website=Stanford Lawyer |publisher=Stanford Law School |date=2003 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway {{Charlie Munger/attribution}}
}}
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| image = warren-buffett.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “InIn insurance, as elsewhere, the reaction of weak managements to weak operations is often weak accounting.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 1982 Annual Shareholder Letter |url=https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/1982.html |website=BerkshireHathaway.com |publisher=Berkshire Hathaway |date=1983 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Warren Buffett, investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway {{Warren Buffett/attribution}}
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| image = charlie-munger.jpg
| {{Quote
| text = “NoNo CEO examining books today understands what the hell is going on… Accounting has steadily degraded over the past 30 years, and accounting firms have sold out time after time.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Chatting With Charlie: The Mark Twain of Finance |url=https://law.stanford.edu/stanford-lawyer/articles/chatting-with-charlie-the-mark-twain-of-finance/ |website=Stanford Lawyer |publisher=Stanford Law School |date=2003 |access-date=2025-12-30}}</ref>
| author = Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway {{Charlie Munger/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = Creativity is great but not in accounting.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rule 34: Be a brown rat if you want to succeed |url=https://www.davidsonwp.com/blog/2016/03/rule-34-be-a-brown-rat-if-you-want-to-succeed |website=Davidson WP |publisher=Davidson WP |access-date=2025-12-31 |date=March 2016 |author=Andrew Davidson}}</ref>
| author = Charles Scott, American businessman and former CEO of Intermark and Fuqua Industries {{Charles Scott/attribution}}
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| {{Quote
| text = I would argue that a majority of the horrors we face would not have happened if the accounting profession developed and enforced better accounting.<ref>{{cite news |title=Munger on the 'Asininities' of Today's Regulators and Business Leaders |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/05/munger-on-the-asininities-of-todays-regulators-and-business-leaders/17894/ |work=The Atlantic |date=2009-05-20 |author=J.J. Gould |access-date=2025-12-26}}</ref>
| author = Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway {{Charlie Munger/attribution}}
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