Warren Buffett on Accounting

“It’s simply to say that managers and investors alike must understand that accounting numbers are the beginning, not the end, of business valuation.”

“Over the years, Charlie [Munger, Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman] and I have observed many accounting-based frauds of staggering size. Few of the perpetrators have been punished; many have not even been censured. It has been far safer to steal large sums with pen than small sums with a gun.”