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The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Making and Breaking of Nations
In The Reckoning, award-winning historian Jacob Soll shows how the use and misuse of financial bookkeeping has determined the fates of entire societies. Time and again, Soll reveals, good and honest accounting has been a tool to build successful companies, states and empires. Yet when it is neglected or falls into the wrong hands, accounting has contributed to cycles of destruction that continue to this day. Combining rigorous scholarship and fresh storytelling, The Reckoning traces the surprisingly powerful influence of accounting on financial and political stability, from the powerful Medici bank in 14th century Italy to the 2008 financial crisis.
375 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
104 people are currently reading
1230 people want to read
About the author
Jacob Soll
10 books25 followersJacob Soll is professor of history and accounting at the University of Southern California.
He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, a D.E.A. from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France, and a Ph.D. from Magdalene College, Cambridge University. He has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes including two NEH Fellowships, the Jacques Barzun Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and, in 2011, the MacArthur Fellowship.
Soll’s first book, Publishing The Prince (2005), examines how Machiavelli's work was popularized and influenced modern political thought. It won the Jacques Barzun Prize from the American Philosophical Society. In his second book, The Information Master (2009), Soll investigates how Louis XIV's famous finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert fused financial management and library sciences to create one of the first modern information states.
His most recent book, The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations (2014), presents a sweeping history of accounting and politics, drawing on a wealth of examples from over a millennia of human history to reveal how accounting can used to both build kingdoms, empires and entire civilizations, but also to undermine them. It explains the origins of our own financial crisis as deeply rooted in a long disconnect between human beings and their attempts to manage financial numbers. The Reckoning, reviewed in major newspapers and publications around the world, has sold more than 60,000 copies worldwide, and has been translated into five languages.
His new books include Free Market: The History of an Idea (Basic Books), an analysis of classical philosophy, natural law, history and contemporary economic culture; a history of libraries and Enlightenment (Yale University Press); and the first English edition of Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s economic writings (Anthem).
Soll has been a correspondent for the Boston Globe, and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Politico, the New Republic, PBS, Salon.com and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
He is currently meeting with political and financial leaders across the globe to promote accounting standards and financial transparency.
Recent journal and chapter publications include:
• “Jean Baptiste Colbert: Accounting and the Genesis of a State Archive in Early
Modern France,” Proceedings of the British Society, forthcoming 2017.
• “From Virtue to Surplus: Jacques Necker’s Compte Rendu (1781) and the
Origins of Modern Political Discourse,” Representations 134 (216), pp. 29-63.
• “The Grafton Method, or the Science of Tradition,” in Ann Blair and Anja-Silvia
Goeing, eds., For the Sake of Learning: Essays in Honor of Anthony Grafton, 2
vols. (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 2, pp. 1019-1032.
• “Intellectual History and the History of the Book,” in Richard Whatmore and
Brian Young, eds. A Companion to Intellectual History, (Chichester: John Wiley
And Sons/Blackwell, 2016), pp. 72-82.
He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, a D.E.A. from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France, and a Ph.D. from Magdalene College, Cambridge University. He has been awarded numerous prestigious prizes including two NEH Fellowships, the Jacques Barzun Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and, in 2011, the MacArthur Fellowship.
Soll’s first book, Publishing The Prince (2005), examines how Machiavelli's work was popularized and influenced modern political thought. It won the Jacques Barzun Prize from the American Philosophical Society. In his second book, The Information Master (2009), Soll investigates how Louis XIV's famous finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert fused financial management and library sciences to create one of the first modern information states.
His most recent book, The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations (2014), presents a sweeping history of accounting and politics, drawing on a wealth of examples from over a millennia of human history to reveal how accounting can used to both build kingdoms, empires and entire civilizations, but also to undermine them. It explains the origins of our own financial crisis as deeply rooted in a long disconnect between human beings and their attempts to manage financial numbers. The Reckoning, reviewed in major newspapers and publications around the world, has sold more than 60,000 copies worldwide, and has been translated into five languages.
His new books include Free Market: The History of an Idea (Basic Books), an analysis of classical philosophy, natural law, history and contemporary economic culture; a history of libraries and Enlightenment (Yale University Press); and the first English edition of Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s economic writings (Anthem).
Soll has been a correspondent for the Boston Globe, and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Politico, the New Republic, PBS, Salon.com and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
He is currently meeting with political and financial leaders across the globe to promote accounting standards and financial transparency.
Recent journal and chapter publications include:
• “Jean Baptiste Colbert: Accounting and the Genesis of a State Archive in Early
Modern France,” Proceedings of the British Society, forthcoming 2017.
• “From Virtue to Surplus: Jacques Necker’s Compte Rendu (1781) and the
Origins of Modern Political Discourse,” Representations 134 (216), pp. 29-63.
• “The Grafton Method, or the Science of Tradition,” in Ann Blair and Anja-Silvia
Goeing, eds., For the Sake of Learning: Essays in Honor of Anthony Grafton, 2
vols. (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 2, pp. 1019-1032.
• “Intellectual History and the History of the Book,” in Richard Whatmore and
Brian Young, eds. A Companion to Intellectual History, (Chichester: John Wiley
And Sons/Blackwell, 2016), pp. 72-82.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
December 31, 2014
There are plenty of people in the world who’d say that history is boring. There are probably even more people who’d say that accounting is worse. So a book about the history of accounting, as an actual CPA said to me, is never going to be a best seller. And while that may be true, this history of accounting was mostly informative, sometimes exciting, and at the end, downright inspiring. That’s because the author frames it as a tool of transparency with the power to topple corruption in government and business.
Double-entry accounting was invented by a Florentine monk in the Renaissance era. He was the first Westerner to adopt Arabic numerals instead of the Roman, so it was really the beginning of mathematics as we know it, at least in the Western world. But revolutionary as it was, I couldn’t help but wonder about other cultures through these for these early chapters. What about the Arabs who invented the numerals? What about the Chinese, whose language, according to Malcolm Gladwell, is embedded with mathematical concepts? And of course, what about the Jews? From the collections for the Bais Ha Mikdash (Holy Temple) to our early days as merchants, surely we had some way of accounting for who paid for what.
The chapters progressed through history from the medieval era to the present day, sometimes showing how societies that embraced accounting flourished, and sometimes showing how far kings and nobles would go to cover up their overspending. The most exciting chapter was about the French Revolution and an accountant and reformer named Jacques Necker. I’d never even heard of him, but not only was his work responsible for revealing the excesses of the king and queen to the public, if they had continued to listen to him, the ending might not have been so bloody. He was more reformer than revolutionary.
The book goes on to the industrial revolution and then to our present day. And herein lies our current conflict: as the economy became more complex, so did accounting, which allowed it to become as much of a tool for fraud as it can be a tool for transparency. With the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis fresh in our memories, the author ends with a call to stop thinking of accounting as boring but as necessary to democracy and prosperity. Just as the first accountants were priests who did their financial reckoning alongside their spiritual one, he wants the study of accounting and economics to be enmeshed with our humanity, not just the realm of profit-hungry businessmen and cold, calculating machines. With this history book, he’s taken one big step forward. He appealed to a liberal arts major like me.
Double-entry accounting was invented by a Florentine monk in the Renaissance era. He was the first Westerner to adopt Arabic numerals instead of the Roman, so it was really the beginning of mathematics as we know it, at least in the Western world. But revolutionary as it was, I couldn’t help but wonder about other cultures through these for these early chapters. What about the Arabs who invented the numerals? What about the Chinese, whose language, according to Malcolm Gladwell, is embedded with mathematical concepts? And of course, what about the Jews? From the collections for the Bais Ha Mikdash (Holy Temple) to our early days as merchants, surely we had some way of accounting for who paid for what.
The chapters progressed through history from the medieval era to the present day, sometimes showing how societies that embraced accounting flourished, and sometimes showing how far kings and nobles would go to cover up their overspending. The most exciting chapter was about the French Revolution and an accountant and reformer named Jacques Necker. I’d never even heard of him, but not only was his work responsible for revealing the excesses of the king and queen to the public, if they had continued to listen to him, the ending might not have been so bloody. He was more reformer than revolutionary.
The book goes on to the industrial revolution and then to our present day. And herein lies our current conflict: as the economy became more complex, so did accounting, which allowed it to become as much of a tool for fraud as it can be a tool for transparency. With the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis fresh in our memories, the author ends with a call to stop thinking of accounting as boring but as necessary to democracy and prosperity. Just as the first accountants were priests who did their financial reckoning alongside their spiritual one, he wants the study of accounting and economics to be enmeshed with our humanity, not just the realm of profit-hungry businessmen and cold, calculating machines. With this history book, he’s taken one big step forward. He appealed to a liberal arts major like me.
August 6, 2018
As a recovering CPA, I enjoyed this 700 year historical look at accounting, from Renaissance Italy, the Spanish and British Empires, to the Dutch Republic and the early United States of America. The author says that this history is the basis of building businesses, states, and empires. He argues that effective accounting and political accountability made the difference between a society’s rise and fall. Without double-entry accounting, neither modern capitalism or states could exist. These are bold claims for the accomplishments of historical accounting. He goes on to write that the early founding of the United States was a chance to build a government around the principles of accounting. Really? I thought it was built around the principles and liberty and freedom, not bookkeeping. I think the author has the causal relationship between wealthy and flourishing societies and accounting reversed. Countries aren’t rich because they have bookkeeping (even North Korea knows, and the former Soviet union knew, how to perform double-entry accounting), but rather countries that are wealthy have good accounting and accountability. See Deirdre McCloskey’s and George Gilder’s work for what creates wealth, and it’s not accounting. The author also says the SEC is underfunded and that government regulation limit the Big 4’s ability to aggressively audit corporations. Really? More than the independence issue—the fact that these firms are being paid by the very entities they are auditing? No mention of this elephant in the room, but he does throw up the old canard about consulting inhibiting auditors aggressiveness (but I believe the payment issue is far more damaging to auditor independence). He also discusses cost accounting, but doesn’t mention that accountants didn’t develop it, engineers did, and they warned us about how imprecise it was. It’s now being discredited as a way to operate a business, perform accurate costing, pricing, etc., as the work of Goldratt, H. Thomas Johnson, and Dr. Reginald Lee have documented so well. I also found the book too long, and too full of minute details. But if you’re an accountant, you will enjoy the historical romp. Just don’t feel too self-important about your role in creating dynamic economies—that’s entrepreneurs, not accountants.
Want to read
April 29, 2014Adding this to my list because of an op-ed, No Accounting Skills? No Moral Reckoning. I found it both fascinating:
and WTFy:
I look forward to seeing what the book itself has to offer.
In Renaissance Italy, merchants and property owners used accounting not only for their businesses but to make a moral reckoning with God, their cities, their countries and their families. The famous Italian merchant Francesco Datini wrote “In the Name of God and Profit” in his ledger books. Merchants like Datini (and later Benjamin Franklin) kept moral account books, too, tallying their sins and good acts the way they tallied income and expenditure.
and WTFy:
Over the past half century, people have stopped learning double-entry bookkeeping — so much so that few know what it means — leaving it instead to specialists and computerized banking. If we want stable, sustainable capitalism, a good place to start would be to make double-entry accounting and basic finance part of the curriculum in high school, as they were in Renaissance Florence and Amsterdam.
I look forward to seeing what the book itself has to offer.
January 6, 2020
花了一個月的時間才硬著頭皮把這本書看完。
我認為中文標題「大查帳」其實會造成讀者對於本書內容有很大的誤解。
原標題 The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nation 其實是貼切本書所談的內容。
我非常同意「財務可靠性」的重要性，但我認為把「國家興衰」跟會計方法及財務透明化上等號太過牽強。
本書所提到的史料太過龐大，內容深度略顯不足，讀起來實在乏味。
我認為中文標題「大查帳」其實會造成讀者對於本書內容有很大的誤解。
原標題 The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nation 其實是貼切本書所談的內容。
我非常同意「財務可靠性」的重要性，但我認為把「國家興衰」跟會計方法及財務透明化上等號太過牽強。
本書所提到的史料太過龐大，內容深度略顯不足，讀起來實在乏味。
March 25, 2017
there was potential for an interesting book here. accounting is indeed a powerful set of ideas, little known by the wider population, and i don't doubt that as the book's blurb says different understandings of it have shaped how empires, nations, ethnic groups have fared. an accountancy professor at a good US university, well-connected (long list of thanks in the acknowledgements) should be an ideal guide. and soll has done some research. the best of the book are the many great historical anecdotes, all carefully footnoted. but there is a real lack of thought and meat to hold them together. soll does barely any explaining of what the accounting ideas are. he gives at least 50 mentions to 'double entry book-keeping' without ever explaining it or saying why it matters. disappointing. i've come across enough accountants to appreciate their perspective can be an interesting one. but not in this case.
February 11, 2019
Listen. I think there could be a fascinating book on the history of accounting. This just isn't it.
June 20, 2017
Required reading for anyone working with financial statements
June 2, 2014
This book presents a careful history of how accounting came to be established as an integral part of government. Since this history focuses on the early history of accounting, it is inevitably a story of how particular accountants came to be in the service of key monarchs and governments as national states emerged. Names like Medici, Colbert, and Necker, among others, are critical. In the US experience the founding fathers, especially Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton are featured. In presenting this history, Soll makes a clear argument - and does so fairly effectively -- namely that when the accounting (and auditing) function was adopted and institutionalized by a ruler, the results were generally good and the state prospered. When the ruler shrank from accountability and failed to fully pursue accountability, things went poorly. In the final chapters, Soll moves into the modern development of the profession and its various conflicts and tensions (audit versus consulting, for example). These more current topics easily justify their own focused treatments, so their inclusion in concluding chapters is less successful. Another interesting aspect of the book is the embedding of accounting in a broader cultural and religious context, in particular focused on living well to pass an eventual reckoning at a final judgment. This interplay of accounting as both a domain of administrative tasks and a metaphor for an approach to right living continues throughout the book and shows up in a variety of contexts, for example in how dissenters played major roles in the evolution of public accounting functions in England.
The author recently won a "Genius" grant for this innovative historical work. It was a good choice.
The author recently won a "Genius" grant for this innovative historical work. It was a good choice.
November 2, 2014
This book was a disappointment. I was hoping from the blurb that I would understand how accounting technology and practice shaped public policy and public feeling about the government. Instead, it came off as a string of disconnected anecdotes with little connection, and no real exposition of how the technical details shaped the consequences. We get "so-and-so used accounting well, so-and-so used it badly, such-and-such group liked it more than some other", without more than the author's impressions.
August 21, 2018
Excellent read
I saw recommendations for this book online, but admittedly had low expectations when I started reading. A history of accounting sounds fuller than dull. But this book was absolutely great! The author did a terrific job of explaining how accounting has been woven into the cultures of the greatest civilizations and economies throughout history, and also highlights the devastating effects of accounting ignorance. The book has inspired me to try to learn more about accounting principles.
I saw recommendations for this book online, but admittedly had low expectations when I started reading. A history of accounting sounds fuller than dull. But this book was absolutely great! The author did a terrific job of explaining how accounting has been woven into the cultures of the greatest civilizations and economies throughout history, and also highlights the devastating effects of accounting ignorance. The book has inspired me to try to learn more about accounting principles.
May 18, 2015
This was a cool look into the accounting connected to a lot of famous eras and events in world history. It was interesting to see how big of a role accounting played in the success or collapse of nations since I had only ever read about how that was primarily determined by things like military prowess or trade. It was also cool seeing how the image of accountants flew all over the positive to negative spectrum over time and the reasons for that.
Read
March 12, 2016Who would have thought the history of double-entry bookkeeping could be so interesting? A terrific read about how rulers, government and shonks have taken the art of accounting and turned it into a force of manipulation. More relevant now in these times of algorithmic trading, futures, derivatives and other financial constructs and perhaps an insight as to why the world's government's can't work out what to do next.
June 21, 2014
Extremely well researched and presented. I learned many things about accounting that I couldn't have imagined, the association between financial and moral balance in previous times for instance. I also learned that much in our modern day is dependent on this "boring" and under-appreciated subject.
June 5, 2014
I'm actually a little amazed I not only finished an entire book about the history of accounting, but that I understood it and even liked it. (My relationship with mathematics is somewhat...troubled).
May 11, 2014
Great book by Jacob Soll.
January 3, 2020
Nerding out on this book...had an absolute blast!
Read
April 24, 2015657.09 S688 2014
November 25, 2021
An Interesting History of a Principal that We Now Take for Granted
Please visit I. David’s blog at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations by Jacob Soll was a pleasant surprise. I do not know what I was expecting when I chose to read this book. But what I got was a book on the history of double-entry accounting and the need for honest and thorough audits. This is not necessarily a subject in which I have a lot of interest. However, because of the author’s fascinating presentation, I completed the book and am glad that I did.
Because double entry accounting and periodic audits are so thoroughly accepted today, it is hard to imagine a time when they were misunderstood and mistrusted. However, as Mr. Soll explains, that was exactly the case during and after the Middle Ages when rulers were assembling the funds necessary to engage in far off wars, to administer their extensive empires and to build their magnificent edifices. These rulers faced financial chaos because they did not fully understand their financial situation.
Initially these rulers tended to ignore the advice of men who understood the requirements of prudent money management. In part, they felt that these “mercantile” principals were below them. Eventually, however, they found that they had to adopt certain principals in order to stay solvent. This ultimately led to double-entry accounting which is now in use in all public and private enterprises.
But, this was not the end of Mr. Soll’s story. He goes on to explain that the mere adoption of modern accounting principals did not eliminate the potential for financial chaos. Indeed, those who are intent on mis-using a double entry accounting system can still use that system to give a false view of financial stability unless and until the money runs out or the fraud is discovered by a thorough audit.
Mr. Soll does not spend any time explaining double-entry accounting in his book. This made the book fast paced and well written for those of us who are already familiar with these principals. However, I have to wonder whether someone who does not have such an understanding might be a little lost. I give this book 4 stars and recommend it primarily for those who have an understanding of basic accounting principals.
Please visit I. David’s blog at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations by Jacob Soll was a pleasant surprise. I do not know what I was expecting when I chose to read this book. But what I got was a book on the history of double-entry accounting and the need for honest and thorough audits. This is not necessarily a subject in which I have a lot of interest. However, because of the author’s fascinating presentation, I completed the book and am glad that I did.
Because double entry accounting and periodic audits are so thoroughly accepted today, it is hard to imagine a time when they were misunderstood and mistrusted. However, as Mr. Soll explains, that was exactly the case during and after the Middle Ages when rulers were assembling the funds necessary to engage in far off wars, to administer their extensive empires and to build their magnificent edifices. These rulers faced financial chaos because they did not fully understand their financial situation.
Initially these rulers tended to ignore the advice of men who understood the requirements of prudent money management. In part, they felt that these “mercantile” principals were below them. Eventually, however, they found that they had to adopt certain principals in order to stay solvent. This ultimately led to double-entry accounting which is now in use in all public and private enterprises.
But, this was not the end of Mr. Soll’s story. He goes on to explain that the mere adoption of modern accounting principals did not eliminate the potential for financial chaos. Indeed, those who are intent on mis-using a double entry accounting system can still use that system to give a false view of financial stability unless and until the money runs out or the fraud is discovered by a thorough audit.
Mr. Soll does not spend any time explaining double-entry accounting in his book. This made the book fast paced and well written for those of us who are already familiar with these principals. However, I have to wonder whether someone who does not have such an understanding might be a little lost. I give this book 4 stars and recommend it primarily for those who have an understanding of basic accounting principals.
December 24, 2025
The Reckoning, by Jacob Soll, traces the history of accounting and its evolution over time. The book focuses on accounting’s usage at specific moments in time, and how it contributed to the rise and fall of nations and businesses.
As a CPA and an accounting professor, I really enjoyed learning a lot more about the history of the profession and its use over time. I found it interesting how accounting gave early businesses and nations a competitive edge (and also how so many companies kept secret ledgers too).
The book strives to establish a causal relationship between a empire/business’ accounting practices and its rise/downfall. I don’t know if I walk out quite convinced of this, as I really came out seeing that good financial practices and transparency, of which accounting is an important aspect, contributes to a business or nation’s success. I thought the case studies that examined very specific instances of accounting being used and its later abandonment was fantastic though.
I thought early on the book could have done a better job establishing the importance of double entry bookkeeping, especially compared to single entry bookkeeping. It felt like the book assumed the reader already had a layer of familiarity with both. Personally, I know double entry bookkeeping, but I don’t quite understand single entry bookkeeping, and would have appreciated more of a walkthrough or comparison.
Overall, this was surprisingly an easy and interesting read. The chapters are short, but to the point. The case study aspect helped keep me engaged. I don’t know if the book again convinced me of its underlying principles, but it was wild to see how business functioned without any form of accounting whatsoever.
As a CPA and an accounting professor, I really enjoyed learning a lot more about the history of the profession and its use over time. I found it interesting how accounting gave early businesses and nations a competitive edge (and also how so many companies kept secret ledgers too).
The book strives to establish a causal relationship between a empire/business’ accounting practices and its rise/downfall. I don’t know if I walk out quite convinced of this, as I really came out seeing that good financial practices and transparency, of which accounting is an important aspect, contributes to a business or nation’s success. I thought the case studies that examined very specific instances of accounting being used and its later abandonment was fantastic though.
I thought early on the book could have done a better job establishing the importance of double entry bookkeeping, especially compared to single entry bookkeeping. It felt like the book assumed the reader already had a layer of familiarity with both. Personally, I know double entry bookkeeping, but I don’t quite understand single entry bookkeeping, and would have appreciated more of a walkthrough or comparison.
Overall, this was surprisingly an easy and interesting read. The chapters are short, but to the point. The case study aspect helped keep me engaged. I don’t know if the book again convinced me of its underlying principles, but it was wild to see how business functioned without any form of accounting whatsoever.
September 13, 2020
I don't want to diminish the accomplishments of this book by reducing the general thesis to one observation, but Jacob Soll clearly believes in accountability, as do I. Unfortunately, the goal posts are ever moving and motivations are not always commendable. He admits this, but doesn't posit a solution, not that there is one.
I enjoyed this book and am grateful for the tour of history, but this will not hit my list of favorites. In an age of corporate accounting free for all, with published "adjusted ebitda," etc., Jacob Soll could do us all a favor by updating the book and proposing standards that are flexible but regularly reviewed for real accountability!
I would add one more observation that just occurred to me. The author does explain double entry book keeping but I am not sure that there is enough education in this book for most readers. I have been married to a bright and motivated woman for 39 years. It isn't obvious to me that, after all these years of hearing me speak of such things, that she truly understands some important accounting concepts like accruals, and even the discussed depreciation. These are not necessarily intuitive, and even double entry book keeping eludes many otherwise bright people.
I enjoyed this book and am grateful for the tour of history, but this will not hit my list of favorites. In an age of corporate accounting free for all, with published "adjusted ebitda," etc., Jacob Soll could do us all a favor by updating the book and proposing standards that are flexible but regularly reviewed for real accountability!
I would add one more observation that just occurred to me. The author does explain double entry book keeping but I am not sure that there is enough education in this book for most readers. I have been married to a bright and motivated woman for 39 years. It isn't obvious to me that, after all these years of hearing me speak of such things, that she truly understands some important accounting concepts like accruals, and even the discussed depreciation. These are not necessarily intuitive, and even double entry book keeping eludes many otherwise bright people.
Read
December 31, 2022If accounting is your profession, I imagine this book would be a page turner from the beginning. Would I recommend this to someone who isn't actively involved in accounting? Probably not.
The author does a decent job of making the creation story of accounting interesting. From it's origins in Italy in the 1300s to the 2008 crisis, it covers the basics of 1) why accounting is crucial to holding those in power accountable and 2) how those in power abuse accounting systems in an attempt to gain more power.
The book poses an interesting dilemma: If the rich can always "cook their books", who stands to benefit from accounting the most? -- Is accounting a crucial piece of a progressing society or is it merely a tool used by the ultra-wealthy to keep the commoners at bay arguing over whether a penny should be counted as a 'debit' or a 'credit'?
The author does a decent job of making the creation story of accounting interesting. From it's origins in Italy in the 1300s to the 2008 crisis, it covers the basics of 1) why accounting is crucial to holding those in power accountable and 2) how those in power abuse accounting systems in an attempt to gain more power.
The book poses an interesting dilemma: If the rich can always "cook their books", who stands to benefit from accounting the most? -- Is accounting a crucial piece of a progressing society or is it merely a tool used by the ultra-wealthy to keep the commoners at bay arguing over whether a penny should be counted as a 'debit' or a 'credit'?
February 3, 2023
I was surprised to enjoy this (despite not being an accountant). It seems obvious today that financial accountability is inherent to the prosperity and success of any developed nation but it was just several centuries ago that even the largest kingdoms scoffed at the idea of maintaining good books and transparency of public funds. Soll takes us from the most basic merchant accounting in ancient empires to modern day crises like the 2008 recession. It is a journey in both history and culture as he describes how these mercantile masters of their time were regarded by society and depicted through art. Whether it is a large empire or a small republic, one thing for sure is without competent accounting, they are doomed to fail.
March 25, 2020
Whenever I try to describe this book to people their eyes always seem to glaze over... "A history of accounting?", but it's absolutely fascinating, tracing financial accountability from the Medici to the financial crisis. It also examines how religion and morality contribute to our ideas around accounting and money. One of the parts I found fascinating was the examination of public discourse around accountability and government transparency and how it contributed to the French revolution and a great shift in the concept of monarchy. If it's lacking in anything, I would have appreciated a look at how finance and accounting developed in non-Western contexts, such as China and the Middle East, but overall it really gives you a sense of development through time.
February 9, 2023
This Western-centric historical telling of the rise of accounting and its use to enrichen those merchants and nations who used it was much more interesting than the synopsis presents. Financial accountability has been an important factor for Western civilization during its rise, especially when it came to reigning in the lavishness of rulers and monarchs. I only wish that some discussion about accountings use in the rise in other nations in other parts of the world was had - I'd be willing to bet that accounting had its use for other civilizations around the world. Overall, I would recommend reading this book.
December 17, 2024
Very broad but not very deep, which is fair. There were sections about the cultural and popular opinion of accounting in different historical contexts which were interesting but felt under developed and stuck to the most obvious examples. The book was written like a term paper and was not all that compelling.
Also amazing that bookkeeping in ancient Non-European states/civilizations wasn’t included at all. Surely there’s some history there that’s worth mentioning?
Also amazing that bookkeeping in ancient Non-European states/civilizations wasn’t included at all. Surely there’s some history there that’s worth mentioning?
November 24, 2022
Most of the time you'd think a book about accounting would be boring. This book breaks that rule. It should be noted that this really should be called the rise and fall of white nations as there is no discussion of any other part of the world's contributions. Besides that complaint I really enjoyed the discussion of the perception and influence of accounting on white western society.
April 22, 2022
If you add "they had double entry accounting, so it was good" or "they did not have double entry accounting, so it was bad" to your layman's understanding of history from the renaissance to the present day then there is no reason to read this book.
July 7, 2018
It's a book about Accounting. Of course I'm going to like it. Got a little preachy in the last two chapters.
January 22, 2019
A good history book which lacks any deep coverage of accounting. Probably most bought for it's bibliography.
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