On top of all this, the accounting profession's critics have one more small request: They want a system of accounting that is as useful to government policymakers, consumers and other groups as it is to investors and creditors.
FORBES: Why Everybody's Jumping On The Accountants These Days
The world's accounting profession is in the midst of a massive effort to harmonise accounting standards.
Fearful of prosecutors and trial lawyers, the accounting profession is already aggressively pressuring companies to massively write down the value of securities with subprime mortgages or other consumer receivables, such as auto loans and credit cards.
At the same time, the profession is trying to hammer out a better system of producing accounting principles.
FORBES: Why Everybody's Jumping On The Accountants These Days
Bowsher is chairman of the Public Oversight Board, which oversees the accounting profession, but which is disbanding March 31.
If the accounting profession wants to truly modernize, it needs to break down the walls of individual departments and get social.
In his regular weekend radio address, Mr Bush said he supported the creation of a strong, independent board to act as a watchdog over the accounting profession.
Thomson, CMA, is president and CEO of IMA (Institute of Management Accountants), one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession.
The prospect--some would say the certainty--of change, drastic change, is very much in the air right now for the accounting profession.
FORBES: Why Everybody's Jumping On The Accountants These Days
McDonough, a former executive of First Chicago, did a 10-year stint as head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before becoming the first chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a U.S. regulatory entity overseeing the accounting profession, in 2003.
McDonough, a former executive of First Chicago, did a 10-year stint as head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (nyse: BK - news - people ) before becoming the first chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a U.S. regulatory entity overseeing the accounting profession, in 2003.
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