Accounting does not make corporate earnings or balance sheets more volatile. Accounting just increases the transparency of volatility in earnings.

It sounds extraordinary but it's a fact that balance sheets can make fascinating reading.

There are men who can write poetry, and there are men who can read balance sheets. The men who can read balance sheets cannot write.

We are led by lawyers who do not understand either technology or balance sheets.

With weak balance sheets, banks tend to continue lending unprofitable businesses and leave them existing.

Deflation can be particularly dangerous when a financial system is shaky, with household and corporate balance sheets in poor shape and banks undercapitalized and heavily burdened with bad loans.