The question, of course, is why was Skilling so adamant about an accounting method, of all things? He could list several reasons. One rationale in particular spoke volumes about the way Skilling viewed business. He’d never let go of the consultant’s conceit that the idea was all and the idea, therefore, should be the thing that was rewarded. He felt that a business should be able to declare profits at the moment of the creative act that would earn those profits. Otherwise businessmen were mere coupon clippers, reaping the benefit of innovation that had been devised in the past by other,
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