Building Public Trust: The Future of Corporate Reporting.By Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. and Robert G. Eccles 179 pages; hardcover; $24.95 John Wiley John Wiley may refer to:
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , 2002 (Copyright[C]2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers) Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. (CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Robert G. Eccles (president of Advisory Capital Partners) ask us to imagine a time 10 years from now, when (they hope) all publicly listed companies will issue fully transparent financial statements. This, they believe, is the way to rebuild the trust that has been lost in recent years. The authors of this visionary book invite readers to join the discussion on how to reach their ideal. Using illustrations and drawing on examples from the experiences of some major companies, they present a formula for transforming corporate reporting. They believe all the elements of what they call "the corporate reporting supply chain" (executives, board members, outside auditors, information distributors, analysts, investors and other stakeholders) must work in step with regulators and standard setters. The authors advance a "three-tier model of corporate transparency For other definitions of transparency, see . Corporate transparency is a form of radical transparency : The construct removing all barriers to - and facilitating of - free and easy public access to corporate, political and personal information and the laws, rules, social " which includes * Uniform international generally accepted accounting principles The standard accounting rules, regulations, and procedures used by companies in maintaining their financial records. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) provide companies and accountants with a consistent set of guidelines that cover both broad accounting . * Standards for reporting industry-specific measurements and reporting. * Standards for company-specific measurements and reporting. They foresee all parties using technologies such as the Internet and XBRL (EXtensible Business Reporting Language) A specification for publishing financial information in the XML format. It is designed to provide a standard set of XML tags for exchanging accounting information and financial statements between companies and analysts. as part of the process, and they provide information about how some companies and regulators already have begun working on the transparency issue. Even visionaries have to be realistic, and DiPiazza and Eccles recognize that the road to realizing their concept of the future of corporate reporting will involve dialogue, compromise, study and changes of habit. They frame the discussion very well in this interesting, educational book. Keep an open mind and join in. STANLEY PERSON, CPA (Computer Press Association, Landing, NJ) An earlier membership organization founded in 1983 that promoted excellence in computer journalism. Its annual awards honored outstanding examples in print, broadcast and electronic media. The CPA disbanded in 2000. , of Person and Co., believes in reading for education and relaxation. His e-mail address is panda cpa@aol.com. |
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