Welcome to the class—whoops, I meant The Accounting Onion. Before you read my posts, you may want to read this frank and deeply touching tale of my personal journey to accounting blogdom.
I graduated from the Cornell Hotel School in 1973, but as I approached the time where I was supposed to snag a job in the hospitality industry, the traditional career paths open to ‘hotelies’ just didn’t feel right. Following a series of lackluster job interviews, I made an appointment with the assistant dean, an impetuous and avuncular fellow, to seek his advice. Within ten minutes, he offered me a position to teach accounting and finance at a 2-year junior college that Cornell was running for the tourism authority of Puerto Rico. Career-wise, it was the luckiest day of my life.
Here’s the next 49 years in a nutshell. I quickly found that I loved teaching, and two years later, I entered graduate school. I have taught accounting more or less continuously since taking the Puerto Rico job: at Cornell, Ohio State, Dartmouth, Wake Forest, MIT, Thunderbird, and until 2019 as a visitor at SMU. Even though I consider myself semi-retired, I seem to be busier (and happier) than ever:
- I’m writing a book. The working title is Honest Financial Accounting:
The Myth, and Making it a Reality. As I draft poritions, I am posting them to the Accounting Onion. Comments are welco - I have lead and produced approximately 250 management education programs in 14 countries. The CPE from Me section of the blog lists the courses that I currently offer “off the shelf”.
- I continue to provide consulting services to companies on matters including SEC compliance, U.S. GAAP, international accounting standards, operational and strategic decision making, and control of international operations.
- I continue to serve as an expert witness and provide litigation support on a broad range of accounting topics, including foreign accounting standards and valuation.
So, why have I become a blogger? Frankly, I thought that blogging would help make me money. I saw it as a way that independent professionals could gain exposure that could lead to opportunity. Indeed, blogging has provided me with professional opportunities. But far more important and gratifyingly, it has provided a channel for my voice in the service of the public’s interest in high quality financial reporting. I know that financial reporting is often unnecessarily complex and far from perfect. From my years of teaching, I also learned how to peel away layers of jargon and complexity to expose what lies at the core of an accounting rule: sometimes a valid concept, and other times an unpleasant surprise.
As of this latest update to my “welcome page,” The Accounting Onion is just a few months short of nine years old. In that time, I have published 324 posts of roughly 1,000 words each. I sincerely hope that something in The Accounting Onion makes a difference for you.