Book Review

Arthur J. Radin, CPA

The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations is a wonderful justification for the lives of accountants and auditors, written by Jacob Soll, a professor of history and accounting at the University of Southern California. Starting 2,000 years ago with the Roman Emperor Augustus and working his way through the history of accounting and auditing—including the Norman Conquest, medieval Italian merchants, the Medici family, the Holy Roman Empire, 16th century Netherlands, Louis XIV, early 18th century England, the Puritans, Benjamin Franklin, and the U.S. Constitution—Soll emphasizes the financial effects of good procedures, double-entry bookkeeping, and independent audits.