How accounting can help society achieve greater prosperity by enabling investors to make better investment decisions. Accounting for Prosperity reveals how modern financial accounting can help economic decision makers, such as business executives and policymakers, lead their organizations and society to greater prosperity by enabling investors to make more informed-and thus more efficient-investment decisions. Challenging the conventional perception of accounting as "counting beans," modern accounting transforms the economic activities of firms into decision-useful information. Mary Barth and Wayne Landsman trace the origins of modern financial accounting from the 1929 Stock Market Crash through the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and into the modern era. They present findings from cutting-edge accounting research from the past 50 years in a way that is engaging and accessible. The book can help:

• investors interpret information in financial reports and use that knowledge to inform investment decisions;
• business executives improve communication with investors through financial reporting, thereby improving effectiveness at raising capital for their firms;
• standard setters and securities market regulators choose accounting alternatives that provide investors with more decision-useful information; and
• other policymakers understand how investor and business executive responses to public policies are likely to affect the economy.

Insights from the book also can enable finance and accounting professionals to offer better advice and assurance.