George W. Bush Quotes

Many stock options in the corporate world have worked in exactly that fashion: they have gained in value simply because management retained earnings, not because it did well with the capital in its hands.

If you look at the history of the American capital market, there's probably no innovation more important than the idea of generally accepted accountancy principles.

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

In the case of Enron, we balance our positions all the time.

I was, as president and chairman of the board, required by law to verify the veracity of the financial figures, the assets under management, the number of outstanding shares, et cetera.

I have long believed the corporate world is plagued by poor capital allocation decisions.

As you would expect, I come from a business background, and the idea that a finance director would be somewhat not working closely with the CEO of a company is very strange to anyone in the business world.

Proper accounting is like engineering. You need a margin of safety. Thank God we don't design bridges and airplanes the way we do accounting.

In the long run managements stressing accounting appearance over economic substance usually achieve little of either.

I don't mean to sugarcoat the figure on restatements, but I think it is positive - it shows a healthy system. The general impression of the public is that accounting rules are black and white. They are often anything but that, and in many instances the changes in earnings came after new interpretations by the chief accountant of the SEC.

Now, we are seeing many of these same companies face the truth about their financial standing. Congress is faced with the challenge of reforming our accounting industry and holding corporate executives responsible for their actions.

The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting.

I'm a hard-nosed businessman, that if a company is paying its way, increasing profits for thirty-odd consecutive years, you don't put it into receivership.

I think the market should reward banks that have been transparent in recognising their problems. I think the tendency of banks to hide the problem assets over a period of three or four years should not be allowed.

It's a special thing to be a public company.

The time is coming when all businesses will have to be done with glass pockets.

We must move rapidly toward achieving worldwide accounting standards that are at least as rigorous as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States. It is hardly possible to have a meaningful evaluation of institutional risk unless a reliable and readily understandable picture of the basic economics of the institution can be obtained.

I hope we’re on the road to more truth-telling to investors.

Virtually all Federal accounting is still oriented toward preventing fraud and theft, not toward controlling costs.

Get the money out fast and do it honestly.

Companies always have a balance sheet of its assets, but counties do not.

The concept of fair value accounting is correct and useful, but the application during periods of crisis is problematic. It's another one of those unintended consequences of making a rule that's supposed to be good that turns out the other way.

I wish we could be private with Tesla. It actually makes us less efficient to be a public company.

As a company, we have to be very transparent. We are in a business very related to finance, and I want this company to last long, and I want this company to be audited by everyone.

I will be the first to admit that I've made my own mistakes when it comes to Virginia's disclosure requirements.