
The number
by Alex Berenson · first published 2003
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4HN commenters
2013–2026first – last mentioned
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Examines how companies have put too much emphasis on "the number," companies' quarterly earnings, and lost track of their true purpose of building profititable businesses, which has led to accounting fraud and the recent corporate scandals.
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…factors and politics involved, and some of these more narrative books are helpful in that regard. I found The Big Short both entertaining and enlightening on the 2008 crash, a while back I also read “The Number” by Alex Berenson, which focuses more on corporate equities and the rise of earnings per share as a driving metric.. I did also read about half of an older book called “Secrets of the Temple”, which gives…
on “America’s banks are missing hundreds of billions of dollars” ↗There is a great book called “The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America” by Alex Berenson. In it he outlines various frauds and market calamities: WorldCom, Enron, 2008. He makes the point that…
on “US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement” ↗…Sarbanes-Oxley was introduced to begin with? Auditors getting too cozy with the companies they are meant to be impartially auditing, because most of their revenue actually comes from consulting. The book The Number talks about this quite a bit: https://www.amazon.com/Number-Quarterly-Earnings-Corrupted-C...
on “Global Audit Firms Are Lobbying to Dilute Sarbanes-Oxley Reforms” ↗There are quite a few people who hold exactly that opinion. For instance, check out Alex Berenson's The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America, or read any "alternative" financial blog, and this line of reasoning might start to make at least some sense.
on “Was the Bitcoin Flock Just Sheared?” ↗