Comments on: From Expectation to Affirmation: An Inquiry Into Transparency and Trust http://rsfsocialfinance.org/2009/04/from-expectation-to-affirmation-an-inquiry-into-transparency-and-trust/ Sat, 12 May 2012 04:37:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: John Bloom http://rsfsocialfinance.org/2009/04/from-expectation-to-affirmation-an-inquiry-into-transparency-and-trust/comment-page-1/#comment-65 John Bloom Wed, 13 May 2009 03:28:48 +0000 http://rsfsocialfinance.org/?p=1946#comment-65 Mr. Palanza, Thanks for your interest in the posting and your comments on the issue of transparency. It is interesting to me that accounting as you portray it is tied to accountability, that aspect of governance which is so sorely lacking in our opaque financial world. Assumptions and intentions are hard to quantify, though they are essential to understanding the world of money and other related transactions. Interestingly, our sustainability hangs in the balance. Mr. Palanza,
Thanks for your interest in the posting and your comments on the issue of transparency. It is interesting to me that accounting as you portray it is tied to accountability, that aspect of governance which is so sorely lacking in our opaque financial world. Assumptions and intentions are hard to quantify, though they are essential to understanding the world of money and other related transactions. Interestingly, our sustainability hangs in the balance.

]]> By: Dan Palanza http://rsfsocialfinance.org/2009/04/from-expectation-to-affirmation-an-inquiry-into-transparency-and-trust/comment-page-1/#comment-58 Dan Palanza Tue, 05 May 2009 13:09:11 +0000 http://rsfsocialfinance.org/?p=1946#comment-58 You said: "The concept of transparency seems to be at the forefront of every discussion about our economy of late, and the majority of those discussions presume that the reader or listener knows what transparency means. I confess to being bothered by such presumptions­thus, this inquiry into transparency. It is an abstract concept, but one essential to our relationships and economic life." A proper book-keeping records a reusable history. "Transparency" in a proper book-keeping is the power to go back into the records and reconstruct a history of events is order to prove the accountability of facts as they occurred when the history was recorded by the book-keeper. In the tradition of book-keeper's that ability to reconstruct historical facts is named "The Audit Trail." The reason you hear so much about "transparency" and its negative aspect, "opaqueness" is that book-keeping performed by computer software has never learned to generate a proper audit trail. This loss of book-keeping technology from paper driven systems, which had their heyday 50 years ago, to software driven systems today stands at the center of today's financial melt-down. The melt-down will not be resolved until the proper book-keeping framework is refined into practice. I would be pleased to share my experiences on how the renewal of a proper book-keeping can take place. You said: “The concept of transparency seems to be at the forefront of every discussion about our economy of late, and the majority of those discussions presume that the reader or listener knows what transparency means. I confess to being bothered by such presumptions­thus, this inquiry into transparency. It is an abstract concept, but one essential to our relationships and economic life.”

A proper book-keeping records a reusable history. “Transparency” in a proper book-keeping is the power to go back into the records and reconstruct a history of events is order to prove the accountability of facts as they occurred when the history was recorded by the book-keeper. In the tradition of book-keeper’s that ability to reconstruct historical facts is named “The Audit Trail.”

The reason you hear so much about “transparency” and its negative aspect, “opaqueness” is that book-keeping performed by computer software has never learned to generate a proper audit trail. This loss of book-keeping technology from paper driven systems, which had their heyday 50 years ago, to software driven systems today stands at the center of today’s financial melt-down.

The melt-down will not be resolved until the proper book-keeping framework is refined into practice. I would be pleased to share my experiences on how the renewal of a proper book-keeping can take place.

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