Franz Kafka has said that a lawyer is a person who writes a 10,000-word document and calls it a brief.
Lou, a member of the IARCP, reminded it to me.
He “thanks us” for the 210+ pages of the previous Top 10 list, but he complains that it takes too much time to read it!
Too much time (he repeated).
And, he cannot resist the temptation. If there is something interesting in his hands, he will read it.
Lou, if you cannot resist THIS temptation, the Top 10 list is the least of your problems.
Ok, this week’s Top 10 list is under 200 pages!
What should we do? Should we have audio as well? - talk is cheap... until lawyers get involved :)
This week we start (Number 1) with a great overview of the Basel III implementation in Europe. And, it takes only about 60 pages to read! If you fly from NY to DC you can study it (weather, check in time and delays have been taken into account).
What would you prefer to read? The Auditing Standards of the PCAOB? No.
According to James R. Doty, Chairman of the PCAOB (at Number 3 of our list) …
“The current PCAOB standards include both interim standards (the "AU" standards, which have accreted over time, as written by the profession) and 16 additional standards, promulgated by the PCAOB (the "AS" standards). As printed, these standards run to over 2,000 pages. To navigate these standards can, we are told, prove daunting.”
Oh, no. They are not serious. The AU and AS standards … to restore investor confidence.
James R. Doty also said: “I shall stop there, and won't suggest this reorganization project will rival the Code of Hammurabi or Charlemagne's codifications”
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating back to about 1772 BC.
It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay tablets.
Provisions of the Code of Hammurabi address issues concerning relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity and behavior.
There is nothing about corporate governance. Enron collapsed in 2001 (way later).
One of the most well-known of Hammurabi's laws is:
If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
It is more like Sarbanes-Oxley, than Basel III.
Welcome to this “brief” Top 10 list.
