Herz - More Accounting Changes

Perhaps not since John L. Careys two volume history, The Rise of the Accounting Profession, has an author contributed as much to the literature of the historian as participant and to providing institutional perspective than does Bob Herz, in his autobiographic revision More Accounting Changes a sequel to his earlier volume Accounting Changes: Chronicles of Convergence, Crisis and Complexity in Financial Reporting.

Herz provides important new insights into a variety of developments that have occurred in the standard setting community since the first volume, including the momentum and environment of global convergence. A dedicated internationalist Bob Herz is an original, the real deal. Having grown up in cosmopolitan international circumstances, blessed with the intellect and disposition to address and envision the necessary ingredients to address change, uncertainty and even a financial crisis of unprecedented proportions, Herz demonstrates a skill to tolerate and overcome ambiguity that is remarkable.

A reading of the book, in its entirety, will reward the reader as to the benefits of having a ground level view of the process of financial accounting standard setting in the United States, which in this volume, after retrospective reflection, Herz affirms as the finest financial reporting system in the world. Nonetheless, he offers a number of constructive and thought-provoking suggestions for improving our financial reporting system.

If you are curious as to Herz s connection to Joe DiMaggio the famous New York Yankee Clipper, you will want to read the book. If you are interested in the role which he played in the development of international standards, as an inaugural member of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), you will want to read the book. If you are wondering how he managed to become both Chartered Accountant and a CPA, you will want to read the book. If you would like to learn about his post FASB career, his involvement as a board member of corporate entities and community or other foundations, and as a member of the board of directors of the recently established Sustainability Accounting Standard Board, you will want to read the book.

Bob is a boomer not only in generational terms but also in terms of the breadth and depth of his accomplishments. He walks quietly, but carries a presence that is known for its even temperament and intellect sorting out and establishing the positions about which he has chosen to accept responsibility.

Many new and important episodes and activities are detailed in this version of his history and memoirs, importantly updating the recent events and assessments of the status of the progress toward a significant goal of his career, global accounting standards. He also comments upon and evaluates candidly the state of adoption of the codification of the FASBs body of standards, an achievement he led and which coincided with his decision to retire from the FASB in 2010, after nearly a decade of involvement in standard setting at the IASB and the FASB, including eight years as FASB chair. Bobs involvement with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), of recent origin, and his growing interest in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues is related for the first time in this volume.

The benefits from reading the book may be improved by considering where Bob is coming from in his career, that is, having an appreciation of what motivates him. He believes passionately in the importance of financial and corporate reporting in a dynamic global capital market. Having studied economics as an undergraduate in the United Kingdom, Herz approaches accounting from the perspective of portraying the economics of real world transactions. Hes an avowed internationalist and a team player both in deliberation and by choice.

To those who have lived before, through and after the period of Bobs term as FASB chair, there is added insight and understanding to be gained by reading the new content and interpretations found in the seven chapters of his writings. For those who entered the profession during some time other than that entire period, and especially for those who are just becoming involved in the profession, this volume represents important background reading. The best of the first volume is retained and updated. That original volume, as observed by Professor Robert Colson, in a published review essay, accomplished something almost unheard of: a book about accounting that grabs your interest from the first page and feeds the research mind with one idea after another.

The same can be said of the new volume.

Gary John Previts

E. Mandell de Windt Professor, Weatherhead School of Management, Distinguished University Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

I retired as chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on September 30, 2010. For me, it marked the end of nearly a decade in accounting standard setting at the highest level first as a member of the newly created International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in 20012002 and then for over eight years at the FASB. It was a fascinating, challenging, and personally very satisfying part of my career and life and, more importantly, a period of significant change, challenge, and opportunity for financial reporting, both in the United States and internationally.