Accounting for everyone

Rodrigo Verdi is aware that accounting does not have the most -- how to put it -- alluring reputation. He senses, from the first time students walk into his accounting class, their anticipation that the subject will be dry and technical. So Verdi addresses this issue head-on. "Accounting is the language of business," Verdi, an associate professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, tells his students. Moreover, he emphasizes, it is the basis of evaluating almost any aspect of a firm. "When I ...