26 August 2016
Authoring a chapter in , he says unless we radically rethink notions of worth and transparency, we will be left consuming superficial images, rather than seriously debating issues of capitalism and financial democracy.
Professor Quattrone argues this financial pornography has led us to consume numbers like supermarket snacks, never stopping to question how they were produced or reflecting on what they represent.
He calls on accounting practice and research to change the way we visualise accounts, to introduce mitigation of competing interests to truly account for an organisations’ impact on society. And draws on historical examples from the Jesuit order and others to set out a practical solution.
He says: “Accounting standards and reporting procedures are there to reassure us on the quality of the data, but they do not warn us that this is not the right information to consume.
“It makes us obese consumers, constantly re-interpreting the same numbers through the same models with little hope of rational judgement or the creation of value.”
The new book is published by .