For those new to the A to Z challenge, bloggers in April try to write posts using the alphabet on a given theme. As my bio warns, mine tend to be longer than 500 words, but I promise they go the extra mile! For the 2021 A to Z challenge, I gave myself a challenge–Accounting. But not just technical accounting–what’s interesting about accounting?
I wrote twenty-six posts on everything from hedge funds to T accounts, with the zen of Zero thrown in for good measure. The posts are listed alphabetically below. Browse at will; I’ll never know.
A is for Accounting (This is about history, not columns of numbers to be added at the end of the day.)
B is for Banking (A thankless job, but somebody has to do it.)
C is for Clay Balls (Wherein we find that accountants invented everything.)
D is for Double-Entry (The Yin and Yang, the Force & The Dark Side)
E is for Earnings (…and the meaning of self-worth…)
F is for Fraud (People try to be so tricksy.)
G is for GAAP (The big acronym that ever accountant must know.)
H is for Hedge (They say the hedgehog knows one big thing.)
I is for Ireland (They call Apple’s tax dodge “Leprechaunomics.”)
J is for Journal (Not the writing kind but the other kind.)
K is for Kiting (Remember E.F. Hutton? Want to know where they went?)
L is for Liabilities (The proof that we will live past a harvest.)
M is for Materiality (Ode to the depreciation of a wastebasket)
N is for Nonprofit (And, yes, they do make profits. They just don’t keep them.)
O is for Overhead (It’s not fluff. It’s most people.)
P is for Pacioli (The father of accounting.)
Q is for Qualified Opinion (Opinions are important in accounting.)
R is for ROI (Return on Investment)
S is for Sarbanes Oxley (What makes even the accountants shudder?)
T is for Taxes (Did you know many people can get their taxes done by experts, for free?)
U is for Useful Life (Which accountants know oh-so-well.)
V is for Value (What’s it worth to ya?)
W is for Wedgwood (The “father” of cost accounting.)
X is for XBRL (The Universal Translator for accountants.)
Y is for Yield Curve (One kind of crystal ball.)
Z is for Zero (The Void. Infinity. Nothingness. And vital to anyone using numbers.)
Final note: Because of the history I dredged up in these posts, I wrote my Master’s thesis on accounting history. “Using the Pen of Goodness: Accounting and Culture in the Late Medieval World (1200-1500).” Pacioli got my started, then Christine de Pizan, and the Mongol/Persian Il-Khanate pushed me further.
How’s that for blogs imitating life imitating blogs?
