Mark Stevens (1)

A book with a few strengths, but some substantial weaknesses. The cover rather breathlessly talks about "scandals and professional lapses," but not much of the book, in fact, is dedicated to that, except for a few superficial chapters on the savings and loan crisis (really focusing on just one busted S&L, Beverly Hills Savings & Loan) and the ZZZZ Best scandal. By the time this book came out (1991) there were a lot of scandals to choose from. Why the author chose to focus on just those two isn't really clear. There are a number of better books out there on the S&L scandal that also go into the various accounting lapses. Where the author does somewhat better is relating how the Big Eight (soon to be the titular Big Six) accounting firms struggled to adapt to changing conditions, by means of mergers or other changes in operations and culture. Interestingly, these were some of the same struggles that other professions, like the law, went through at this time, and continue to go through. I can only recommend the chapters on the operations of the accounting firms, and even just barely, as the author isn't a terribly compelling writer.… (meer)