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As ever, the chicanery was justified by its practitioners with the excuse that mere financial statements could not capture the brilliance of their enterprises. Talking to a Swedish diplomat, the Match King spoke for con men everywhere: We’ve chosen some new high priests and called them accountants. They too have a holy day—the 31st of December—on which we’re supposed to confess. In olden times, the princes and everyone would go to confession because it was the thing to do, whether they believed or not. Today the world demands balance sheets, profit-and-loss statements once a year. But if you’re really working on great ideas, you can’t supply those on schedule. . . . The December ceremony isn’t really a law of the gods—it’s just something we’ve invented. All right, let’s conform, but don’t let’s do it in a way that will spoil our plans. And someday people will realize that every balance sheet is wrong because it doesn’t contain anything but figures. The real strengths and weaknesses of an enterprise lie in the plans. The banks and investors who
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