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.

The fact is that one of the earliest lessons I learned in business was that balance sheets and income statements are fiction, cash flow is reality.

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

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