The Sex of a Hippopotamus: A Unique History of Taxes and Accounting

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4 Responses to 'The Sex of a Hippopotamus: A Unique History of Taxes and Accounting'

1. Valrie Chambers - June 22nd, 2010 at 2:14 pm

   This is a well-documented and interesting read for professionals in the accounting and tax fields. In particular, this book is appealing to instructors, retirees, recent graduates and the hard-to-buy-for CPA.
   
   The book includes anecdotes on accounting careers, the role of accounting in world history and tax anecdotes of the rich and famous. Pop-culture references to accountants include Porky Pig who is quoted reading the instructions to his tax return, Harry Potter, Ghostbusters, the Producers and the Beatles song, “Tax Man.”
   
   The author, Jay Starkman is an experienced, practicing CPA in Atlanta. He includes several tricks of the trade, including how to get the IRS to audit at a CPA’s instead of client’s office and the role of politics in taxation. Starkman can be controversial. He addresses internal control weaknesses for electronic tax filing and changes in professional ethics over time including changes in the ability to accept referral fees, continuing education requirements and the reliability of pre-packaged tax software. Similarly, the history of tax and accounting is not sugar-coated. He includes a discussion of California’s 1850 tax on foreign laborers (primarily Chinese and Latinos).

   Accounting historians may trivialize some of the personal experiences, and practitioners may be less interested in the history; however, there is enough of each area of accounting to make reading this book enjoyable. A find for accounting and tax geeks.
   
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. D. VanLeuven - June 22nd, 2010 at 4:11 pm

   I may be biased as a amateur historian, professional tax accountant, but I loved this book. This book is organized by topic and it covers several categories. I read the book in a few days and I enjoyed Mr. Starkman’s insights. There were several things that will help me professionally.

   I currently work at one of the Big 4 firms talked about at the first of the book and it was interesting to read about the history and about how good I have it in comparison now. The firms sure have changed! I have been around for over seven years and have heard about or experienced in the early part of my career several of the things mentioned. But then I am writing this during my lunch break on Labor Day for example, so maybe they haven’t completely changed. This book would be especially enjoyed by other Big 4 accounting firm employees.

   It feels to me like the book’s target audience is other tax accountants who have experienced similar things. I can not imagine my wife, a nonaccountant, ever reading this book. I suspect it might be interesting for all accountants; tax, auditing, or managerial.

   If you fondly call yourself a tax geek, you will be fond of this book.
   Rating: 5 / 5

3. R. Dauplaise - June 22nd, 2010 at 6:53 pm

   Talk about everything you ever wanted to know about taxes! This is one heck of a collection of tax and accounting trivia and stuff I wish I didn’t know. Loads of interesting tax stories and information about how the US’s favorite governmental agency really operates.
   Rating: 4 / 5

4. Karen - June 22nd, 2010 at 8:54 pm

   My knowledge of accounting is rudimentary at best. I picked this book up and just kept going. It was interesting, informative and rather funny. I learned a huge amount about our country’s history (good and bad!) and even more about how the tax code came into being and then kept morphing into a more and more complex set of regulations. I also discovered just how much common sense is consistently AWOL from our government system. A thoroughly entertaining and enlightening read!
   Rating: 5 / 5

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