A man of principles

摘要

FASB chairman Bob Herz suspects corporate abuse would be greatly reduced if companies had to comply with the spirit, not just the letter, of accounting law. So he's pushing a "principles-based" system to replace the current rules-based regime — making some CEOs nervous. "Our clients are saying that auditors are getting more and more unreasonable," reports Fred Tepperman, founder of Old Westbury, New York-based investment boutique FLT Investors. A senior technical partner at Arthur Young & Co. in the 1970s and CFO of Warner Communications from 1981 to 1983, Tepperman recalls that back when he was wearing a green eyeshade, the whole of accounting regulation could be bound into one barely inch-thick book. "Now it takes entire bookcases to hold it all," he laments. "It's just not manageable."