Regulation: a help or hindrance to business growth?(FEI@75)(financial reporting)

Financial Executive, September, 2006 by Cheney, Glenn Alan; Hills, Roderick M.

It's more coincidence than cause and effect, but Financial Executives International and substantial financial regulation were born at just about the same time. Thus, they share a history of about 75 years.

But the first inklings of regulation appeared a little earlier--during the economic woes of the end of the 19th century. An "irrational exuberance" in the stock markets, fed by a boom in railroad profits, faltered when the market learned of fraudulent financial statements. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange demanded independent audits of public company books. The books were about all that got audited in those days. The simple math. The classic image of the accountant in green eyeshades poring over a ledger exemplifies the proto-audit of the...

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