The marriage stayed in tact four more years after writing this entry. The aftermath and confusion of my divorce twisted my body, mind, and soul in ways that changed me forever. My life now, with a woman that is truly an ideal match for me, is like a calm peaceful morning following a night of thunder and lightning so close you can smell the burnt air. That storm ripped my house apart and I thought my life was destroyed. Now five years later, a new home stands testament to the healing power of Father Time.

My Crucible (November of 2000)

I look for a reason. Unsuccessful, I fall back asleep, wake up an hour later, and try again. Getting out of bed is the toughest part of my day. My job starts in the afternoon, kids are at school, and I only work three hours a day. I could sleep almost all day if I wanted.

I’m not tired, I’m empty. Crack open my chest you’ll find an empty hole. My belly button to my throat is an empty cavity where my spine dangles like the root of a tree searching for nourishment. There is nothing to feed it.

As a lifeless drone, I do the bare minimum required to survive. It’s not a good place to be. I don’t complain or try to change, I just tolerate life. It’s what I’ve done for over thirty years but it’s starting to bug me now.

It’s not that I don’t have plenty of opportunities to fill my soul. Nourishment is plentiful; my kids, a job I almost enjoy, music, writing, photography, rock climbing…plenty of passion. Well, there could be at least. So why am I so empty?

By the time I was 13 and without even knowing what happened, I embraced a belief that a woman contained the key to my happiness. She would fill my chest with happiness, passion, and pleasure. It wasn’t a conscious choice, but rather a gradual dependence formed by years of social programming.

I watched TV and saw movies where women made men happy. I saw how men gave anything for the pleasures offered by beautiful women. Large breasts, a slim figure, beautiful hair, and inviting eyes were the secret formula for happiness. The media sold it and my hormones bought it.

In addition, my religion taught that marriage would give additional meaning and purpose to my life. Women were a one stop solution to the meaning of life. But there was a catch with religion: sexual desires are good only in the confines as marriage. Not a bad thing in itself, but the guilt from my lusting poisoned my youth.

By eighth grade this programming controlled my life. I would only find happiness when a girl accepted and loved me. But, I was such evil person because of my carnal desires and constant disappointments to God, my parents, and myself. My self-esteem was a mess. I spent my pathetic teenage years dreaming and wishing for a girlfriend yet lacking the confidence to barely even talk to girls. I had moments of elation and some fun relationships, but for the most part, my dependence on them got in the way and messed things up.

Acquiring a girlfriend and managing my sexual desires became a juggling act: a cycle of passion, masturbation, guilt, self-flagellation, depression, and back to passion. It was a thorny complex cycle. My soul screamed for happiness, my body screamed for pleasure, and the two blurred together offering women as the solution. But to form the pure and wholesome relationship required for true happiness component, I had to bury my evil sexual desires. I worked hard on this one (see the above cycle/juggling act) and held on because I believed the nightmare condition would all end once I was married. At that point it would all come together; happiness, meaning, and pleasure. I tried to be a perfect little Mormon boy and later considered careers based on money rather than something I enjoyed.

Marriage and the introduction of sex medicated me for a time. It kept me numb to the fact that I wasn’t living my own life or following my own dreams. As long as I had my fix, I kept going. When the sex frequency took a nose dive after the first year, my world spun. Start juggling again, this time on a spinning merry-go-round. Now, after ten years of marriage we teeter on the brink of divorce. I’ve spent my whole life leaning on admiration and sexual gratification from women, a rickety old crutch to begin with, and it is being taken away. Now I’m empty. I don’t have the love and admiration of the women I married, I am sexually frustrated, and I’ve realized my life-long scripts are bullshit.

I’m in a tough spot. I don’t like relying on women for validation, meaning, and pleasure. Thirty years of programming doesn’t just flush down the toilet. It takes work to clean up a mess like this. I’m so used to relying on women I don’t know how to take responsibility for my own happiness. The thought scares the hell out of me. Somehow, though, I’ll have to learn to fill my own tank. It’s the way it should be because I know happiness can only come from within; through self-love, service, creativity, honesty, spirituality, intimacy…I know where I need to be but don’t know how to get there.

I’m not alone with this. Sex sells because people like me buy in to the fact that it’ll bring happiness. I can understand why even the president of the United States would risk everything for a blowjob. Sex, money, drugs, and power are where men look, typically. We all have our periods of vainly searching for happiness in places where it can’t be found. The lessons we learn from media, religion, social influence, and even parents aren’t always the most effective ways to live.

So what now? I can’t say. There is no easy answer. For me, it’s one day at a time and courage to look in a new places for happiness. It’s scary, but I’ll get rid of my addiction to women. I’m determined to be happy independent of my sexual and emotional issues with women.

Recently, I had an opportunity to gain some insight. I play an online game called “World of Warcraft,” commonly referred to as “WOW.” If you aren’t one of the eight million people who play this game, hold your judgment until you finish reading…I’ll give you some background.

The effects of this alternate reality of this world aren’t limited to the imagination. Marriages have been formed and dissolved, lawsuits have been filed, and in-game items have been traded and purchased using real world currency. In fact, I have spoken with a 21 year old man who works in an office in China with 40 others. They play WOW eighteen hours a day. They grind away in the game earning gold, the currency of WOW. The gold is sent to their supervisor’s in-game character and then marketed in the real world for $20 per 100. In this WOW Sweatshop, he earns $200 per month and is thankful to have a job to support his family. But that’s another article.

In WOW, I play a short little gnome named ZieZee. As a gnome, I am part of the “Alliance,” and therefore allied with the human, dwarf, and night elf races. Most of the others characters I encounter are real people sitting at their computers plucking away at a keyboard while exploring a vast world of swords, magic, monsters, dungeons, cities, etc. I can chat with them, team up with others finish quests, or even form guilds comprised of hundreds of individuals all working together.

On the other side are players who create characters that are Orcs, Trolls, Tauren (big Ogre-like creatures), or Undead. They are known as the Horde and enemy of the Alliance. The two sides cannot communicate, group up, or collaborate. In some worlds (there are multiple WOW worlds that you can join), you can freely attack and kill members of the opposing faction. Initially, I created a character in one of these worlds. Later I decided it did not suit my personality and transferred to a friendlier place.

As I explored the land, I become progressively more powerful. Characters who have played for months or years can easily mow through armies of lower characters and I often ran across these more powerful characters. Alliance characters would often lend me a hand with a difficult beast. Hoard characters, however, would often charge, attack, and kill me. Dying, although not the end of the game, is an inconvenient process.

I wasn’t interested in the player vs. player aspect of the game. I left lower Horde members alone and let them go on their merry way. As they cautiously kept their distance I often waved or smiled to indicate I meant them no harm, although their distrust kept them away. Communication between factions is limited to basic physical actions. Although I didn’t harass lower Horde, I didn’t find the same courtesy from their bigger brothers and sisters. I found myself being attacked from behind, attacked while opening a chest, and attacked while just walking down the path time and time again. With each brutal ambush, I my anger increased. I found myself hating the Horde; really hating them. I noticed my face automatically jumped to a bitter scowl whenever I saw one. Fear griped me when I saw them on a distant hill. I truly developed an extreme prejudice for the races that made up the Horde.

I abandoned my friendly nature and begin fighting back. I’d join others in raiding Horde villages, killing other players. It felt good to get even. They had caused me too much pain and suffering.

Then one day as I was out adventuring, I came across a Horde undead Priestess gathering Herbs for her potions. I went into stealth mode (an ability my character has) and snuck up behind her. Although I was ready to attack with my backstab ability and she was seconds away from death, I hesitated. I followed her for about four minutes as she picked her flowers and my hate and anger for the Horde wavered. I couldn’t kill her. And not only that, I couldn’t play this game anymore.

I know it’s just a game and all pretend, it doesn’t matter, right? No, it doesn’t, but it still didn’t resonate with me. I didn’t like feeling the anger, hostility, and fear that surfaced during my interactions with the Horde. I didn’t like the vengeance that drove me to sneak up to assassinate the Undead Priestess. Even if it was a game, it was so far out of character for me that I couldn’t do it anymore.

I snuck around in front of her, holstered my two poison tipped daggers, took off my armor, and unstealthed…appearing for her. Now I was helpless. I’m sure she realized I could have killed her easily while I was stealthed, but now a few quick spells and I’d be the dead one. I waved and sat down on the grass. She didn’t move, but instead stared dubiously at me. I watched the screen curiously. It took several moments but then she sat down in front of me. Using the basic physical gestures allowed, evoked by typing “slash commands” we communicated. /wink, /smile, /laugh, /hug, and finally, /dance. In the end we waved goodbye and went our separate ways. It felt really good.

I paid to have my character transferred to another world, where you couldn’t mercilessly attack the members of the other faction. Sine then, the game has been much more enjoyable for me. Why I ever played in a world driven by hate and violence I don’t know. I guess I hoped that I could somehow find a way to cope and survive. Maybe I thought I could make a difference. It sounds stupid because it’s just a game. But really, it’s not just a game, which is why I struggled with it. It is real social attitudes manifested in a pretend world. It’s examples of the real problems we have in our world. And it drummed up real feelings of hatred, vengeance, and anger within me. Had I started playing WOW with the intent of fighting bitter enemies, I would have handled it better. But I wanted to play to have fun, explore, and socialize.

Yes, it is just a game, but now I think I can understand, a little, the hatred and anger experienced by real people in the real world. I know why in Seattle a few years ago an African American man bitterly told me to get out of his shop because the “white man’s shop is down the road.” He didn’t want to share his African carving and artwork with me because of the anger and hostility that burned in him merely because my skin is white. His history has burned that in to him. The war in Vietnam burned it into others. It’s too bad we can’t just switch to a new game server where that doesn’t exist. It takes vulnerability…putting away our daggers and standing in front of one another exposed. And in real life, that’s a scary thing to do.

Introduction

Photography is an attempt to capture an image to make a point or remember/share a moment of time. This explains why a picture is worth a thousand words. A picture is more than a printed image. It can stir feeling and emotion. When you experience a moment of intense emotion and want to take a picture, what exactly are you trying to capture? Do you simply want to remember the sun went down on a particular day or do you want to remember a serene feeling of awe and beauty inspired by fiery red and orange sky? Is it the image or the feeling/emotion you are trying to capture? Even a simple snapshot of the kids for grandma is taken to share a personal connection. We want to remember or share feelings of love, hate, despise, sorrow, humor, awe, concern. If you mindlessly pull out a camera and press the button, you will grab the moment and you will most likely remember your emotion. But, if you want to maximize how well you can pass this on to others, you need to give some thought to the process. Call it Zen photography. This is accomplished by doing more than just pushing a button. It requires you to think about what you are feeling, identify what you want to capture, push the limits of your creativity, and understand the basic mechanics of photography.

The same picture taken in different ways can convey many different emotions. In fact, pictures might be worth a thousand words, a million words, or perhaps only a few hundred…depending on how it is taken. If you have a complex emotion or feeling to convey, make your picture say it. If you have a statement to make, make the camera create the image that makes your point. Chances are slim you’ll accomplish this with a thoughtless point and click. At the same time, you also do not need to spend hours planning every photograph. A quick moment to identify what you feel, consider methods on how to capture it, and then plan and execute a successful picture can have a huge impact on your final print. One well planned picture will say more than a barrage of snapshots.

To help you capture your ideal photograph, I’ll introduce you to the technical aspects of photography, discuss creativity, and finally, offer some ideas on connecting with your environment and subjects. Hopefully this will help you take better pictures, have more fun, and maybe even spark an interest to dig deeper into photography.

Technical Introduction

Most people enjoy taking pictures and prefer to avoid delving into the mechanics of how the camera works. I can understand not wanting to get bogged down with technical jargon and just take pictures. Cameras are pretty smart and you can get good pictures without stepping too deeply into the science, however, even the smartest camera needs a little help from the human behind it.

The building block of photography is light. Your camera captures light as it bounces off objects. Let in too much and your pictures are too bright (overexposed). Don’t let in enough and they are too dark (underexposed). Think of it like filling a glass of water. You pour until the cup is full…not too little and not too much. The process of filling the cup perfectly…or letting in just the right amount of light is called “exposure.” Your basic tools for capturing light (and thus, setting the proper exposure) are aperture and shutter speed. Your camera knows how to control these settings and, thus, allows you to get decent shots without reading my article on intermediate photography. If you get to a point where the camera isn’t taking the pictures like you want, that’s a sign it’s time for you to move on to the next level.

Until then, I’ll focus on how you can help your camera take the best shot. Most cameras today will let you specify various shooting modes. A sports mode will gear towards high shutter speeds (to freeze action), a portrait mode will emphasize a large aperture (to blur the background), and landscape will use a small aperture (to keep everything in focus). My first tip is as follows:

Basic Tip #1: Use the shooting modes offered by your camera

If you don’t understand how to select a shutter speed and aperture, at least take advantage of the various shooting modes built in to your camera. If you leave your camera in full auto, it has no clue what you are trying to shoot and will use a general setting. If you can at least tell your camera, “Hey, I’m taking a portrait,” the computer built in to your camera will work to your benefit and automatically make the adjustments to maximize the settings for a great portrait. Most cameras have a quick dial that you can turn or a button you can push to quickly hop through the different shooting modes.

Your camera, in addition to letting in the proper amount of light, must also correctly position the glass on your lens. This is known as “focus.” Generally, your camera will look at what is in the middle of your viewfinder and set the lens so that object will be sharp focus. However, let’s say you want to take a picture of your daughter standing to the right of Mt. Fuji looming in the background. Although there are many cameras on the market with multiple focusing points (they automatically focus on the closest object), most likely your camera will focus on the center object, Mt. Fuji. Your final picture will be a blurred image of your daughter and a sharp Mt. Fuji in the distance….probably not what you were after.

Basic Tip #2: Center your picture on your main subject, press the shutter halfway, and then recompose your picture

Most cameras by default will let you lock the focus by pressing the shutter button halfway down. In our example above you would point your camera at your daughter (so she is centered in the viewfinder), press the shutter button halfway down (and hold it there), move the camera slightly so she is off to the right and you have a nice view of Mt. Fuji in the distance, and finally, press the shutter release. By following this tip, your daughter will appear in sharp focus with Mt. Fuji looming in the background.

Basic Tip #3: If possible, take pictures when the lighting is soft and with the sun at your back

When the sun is bright and directly overhead, shadows are dreadfully dark and everything else is blindingly bright. Generally, this doesn’t make for a good picture. If your camera exposes for the dark areas, the light areas will be completely overexposed (all white). Conversely, expose for the bright areas and the dark areas are reduced to blackness. Sometimes, you just can’t avoid shooting in harsh lighting situations, but, when possible, take your pictures during the first or last few hours of daylight and shoot with the sun behind you. This will have a massive impact on the quality of your pictures. Get up early, take pictures, then go relax, take a nap, or read a book through the hot part of the day. When the sun starts to drop, you’ll be rested, refreshed, and ready to get more top quality photos.

On exception is that a moderately cloudy day offers a good opportunity for midday picture taking. The clouds act as a giant light box and soften the light which gives mild highlights and gentle shadows.

Basic Tip #4: Hold your camera steady

A moving camera means a blurry picture. You may choose to pan with a moving object as you take a picture, and that is fine, but even in panning, hold your camera firmly and press the shutter release with an easy gentle push. I go so far as to treat the camera as I used to treat a gun (back when I hunted). I breathe slowly, aim carefully, hold firmly, and press the button slowly and gently.

Creativity

Creativity, introspection, spirituality, and critical thinking are all part of the same core concept in my mind. I think the idea is to tap into our own unique ideas, thoughts, and emotions. It’s not easy because we are so inundated with the thoughts, ideas, philosophies, teachings, rules, and images of so many before us…not a bad thing unless it stops us from doing our own thinking (which I think it often does). It can, however, even be a good thing and act as a springboard into our own creativity. We just have to practice.

On my first visit to New York, a co-worker and friend (and native New Yorker) made the comment that he loved seeing the city with first time visitors. It helped him appreciate and notice all the things he had become acclimatized to…and thus invisible to him. He encouraged me to share with him my fresh thoughts and ideas as I explored the city. I try and use this approach with my photography. I want my pictures to always feel fresh and new.

Basic Tip #5: Take pictures when you are feeling enthusiastic and inspired

To be creative, you need an emotion, feeling, or idea (without that, you may as well be a robot with a camera). Unless what you are after is boredom, don’t start with it! Let yourself become immersed in whatever you are photographing. Taking pictures at a football game? Let the excitement of the game carry you along! My opinion is that emotion is the basis of creativity. By being mindful and free with our emotions, I believe we broaden our creativity. I have laughed, cried, and been nearly stunned with awe (except for my finger pressing the shutter button) while taking pictures. If I am not feeling inspired, I generally don’t get my camera out. I get spoiled by moments when I feel like everything just comes together perfectly; perfect shot after perfect shot. Of course, I love photography so much that just picking up my camera evokes a significant amount of emotion!

Think of an intense moment in your life. How would a picture of this moment look? Would it convey what you were feeling? I remember fishing once when I was only about eight years old. I anxiously reeled in a catfish from the canal after sitting several hours in the hot sun. When I pulled the fish out of the water, however, my enthusiasm drained and replaced with sadness. I had caught plenty of fish before, but in that moment, I suddenly felt horrible. I tried to quickly and painlessly unhook the little guy, but it wasn’t easy. I was so scared he would die before I could set him free. How could I have taken a picture that would make viewers feel my sadness rather than evoke warm memories of a young boy out fishing?

Basic Tip #6: Pause once in a while and ask yourself, what am I feeling?

Your unique feelings and the way you perceive the world are part of your personal creativity. If you can learn how to take pictures that help others to feel and see the world through your own heart and eyes, it can evoke new emotions and feelings in others. People generally love to explore, feel, and see new things. Your pictures then become a way for others to grow, feel inspired, or mourn. You can share a part of yourself and have an impact on the world around you!

To explore your own personal creativity, push yourself to look at the world in different ways. There are so many different ways to take the same picture! What would happen if you tilted the camera? What would happen if you were to lie on the ground or held the camera above your head? What if you moved closer, zoomed in, or zoomed out? How your frame the picture is called composition and as you move around the object, the possibilities for composition are endless.

Basic Tip #7: Move around with your camera

Moving around with your camera is one way you can explore your creative approach. If you choose to delve into more advanced techniques, you will find many ways you can experiment (flashes, filters, reflectors, focal length, macro lenses…). A fun experiment is to take pictures of the same thing while varying composition. Can you evoke either happiness or fear based entirely on composition and technique?

Another good exercise is to take an issue, idea, or value that is important to you. Try and come up with a picture that expresses your point of view. If you feel very strongly about caring for children, how can you take a picture that inspires others to value a child? Maybe your picture will be of a sad and hungry child or maybe it will be of young girls in a caring loving environment. Maybe your message about children has no children at all, but rather an old broken neglected toy. Thoughtful photography encourages us to explore our world and feelings as both the viewer and the photographer.

The creative approach you use to show people how you see the world make your pictures different. Be creative in composition, ideas, and even in applying the mechanics of photography to expand your unique creative approach. Where you point your camera and how you configure the settings will change your message.

Zen Photography

Knowing the mechanics of photography and being able to creatively compose images are vital to capture striking images. In fact, sometimes I am taking pictures so fast and mindlessly that all I am doing is setting my camera and altering my composition. It’s not my ideal scenario. In this mode, it’s like I am just firing a shotgun randomly with a hope of bagging dinner. And yes, sometimes I do get great pictures. But without applying more heart and soul to my efforts, my pictures lack something. My most rewarding photographs happen when I slow down and tune in to the world around me.

Basic tip #8: Be mindful of the world around you

By occasionally putting my camera down and listening, smelling, touching, and watching, I can connect myself to my surroundings. Sometimes this means letting a horned owl fly by without reaching for my camera because I am watching how her feathers move, where her head turns, and listening to the flap of her wings. After slowing my mind down, I am ready to pick up the camera. Now when I look through the view finder, I see a living world around me. In my mind, I speak to the owl as I follow her with my telephoto lens. Now when I make a print of her, it’s more than just an image. I have captured a feeling.

I love candid shots. I can sit in the park, watch children play, and take pictures all day long. My best shots of children come out when I have connected on some level with them. Maybe I need to play with them for a half hour or tickle them and make them laugh. Other times I may watch them to learn what makes them smile or frown. Once I have made a connection, I am ready to capture who they are in a photograph. Anything before that is just a snapshot.

Basic tip #9: Periodically check your camera settings

Because a Zen approach is holistic, you can’t forget that mechanics are part of the process. I have blown some great pictures because I skipped tip number 8. I’m out there shooting; in the groove, excited, everything is in the flow….100 pictures later, I find out my camera is set at 1000 ISO, I’ve pushed two stops, or I am not in the correct exposure mode. I like to stop every so often and just double check my camera settings…on a point and shoot camera this is easy. You are shooting sports….are you sure you are in the sport priority mode? If you shoot digital, review your pictures and make sure they are looking right. Read your histogram if you know how. Make sure you are shooting what you think you are shooting!

Basic tip #10: Be Patient

The greatest skill of a photographer is patience. Patience, however, doesn’t mean sitting around wasted time! Use that time to begin building the perfect picture. Breath, connect, feel…use all your senses to be aware of your surroundings. Forget about the problems and issues you face out in the world. For that moment, nothing matters. It’s just you and your camera….in the living breathing world around you.

Summary

Taking photographs requires more than a finger to push a button. If all you want is snapshots, you wouldn’t be reading this article. Practice using my first ten tips and when you are ready, move on to my advanced section!

10 Basic Photography Tips

Accountants are typically conservative and professional individuals. Our presentations were to be as professional as possible (board room setting, suits, big-business scenario…). I took a big chance with my presentation…and showed up in a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops to make my point. I held up a hammer and said that we as accountants were trying to cut wood with a tool that was not made to cut wood. That we were holding on to traditions and methods that needed to be changed and improved but we were too afraid to try new things.

(Just to let you know, my gamble paid off. I received an A for both my presentation and my paper.)

I believe that current accounting practices are based on methods and processes that are outdated. The double entry accounting system was designed to “account” for financial activity; not to predict it. It was to report to tax agencies and other organizations on financial status. Corporations and investors today attempt to use this data to predict the future…and although it can provide clues to the future, I believe it’s a lot like driving a car while looking through the rear view mirror. You can’t drive a car very well by using the past to predict the mountains, weather, and curves ahead. Why not use predictive data to predict the future? Why not look out the front window while driving the car? Better yet, why not reference a road map detailing the road ahead?

“Budgets,” you say? Budgets? Don’t make me laugh! I’ve worked for an Accounting Firm. I’ve worked for Corporations. I’ve seen how budgets work and how they can be manipulated. I’ve seen how they are often not based on sound financial data but rather a best guess…or worse, an optimistic projection by a management team trying to increase stock value. A budget is a complete subjective speculative unregulated financial document. Governmental/Nonprofit accounting (fund accounting) does a better job, but still could be improved on. The budget is a separate living entity…completely separate from the financial reports. BUT…..but what if it wasn’t? I think it would have been impossible years ago, too much paperwork….but then years ago so was detailed job costing. Too often the costs far outweighed the benefits to produce such reports. Now, however, we have computers….and it is possible.

The past few years I have been thinking more in terms of personal finances, rather the corporate accounting. Programs like Quicken and Money are great for tracking when and where your money goes, but I am continually disappointed on the weak budget functions included in the software. The budget functions independently. The numbers are not intertwined with the core financial information. Imagine financial software that encompassed not only the past and present…but also the future. Your current financial status is on the middle of a line that goes behind and ahead of you. Every purchase you have made or might make today has an immediately visible impact on the future. Want to purchase that big screen TV, punch it in to your software and watch how your whole future is adjusted. The base mentality of the home finance packages is that the financial information ends at the present. They are working at making forecasting and budgeting easier and more accurate, but in my opinion, they fall short (and I have used the latest versions of Money and Quicken). They could be greatly improved upon…and one way to do that is by integrating more directly the future with the present and past. It could be easier, more accurate, and more useful.

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Triple-Entry Accounting Methods
Warren Henke
May 24, 1994

Triple-Entry Accounting

Accounting practices today are based on the double-entry method. There have been many proposals by various accountants to expand this into a triple-entry accounting system. Why should the accounting profession consider changing? This paper will discuss this question by looking at how the double-entry system has developed, and what weaknesses it possess that could be strengthen by incorporating a triple-entry method.

History of Double-Entry Accounting

There is evidence that even during the Mesopotamian era, a fairly complex accounting of possessions, purchases, and expenditures existed on tablets. Extensive accounting methods also existed in Greece since the fifth century B.C. The middle ages had developed a fairly advance system of accounting just before the introduction of double entry accounting. Accounting practices today are derived from these early systems.
There are many influences from the developers of early accounting that extend into our practices today. One of these practice is the avoidance of negative numbers.

Through the use of debits and credits, accountants avoid the use of negative numbers. There are several reasons for this, such as control and ease of use for accountants who did not have the benefits of computers and calculators. Perhaps, however, the initial introduction of the debit and credit was not linked to such reasons.
According to various mathematicians, it wasn’t until the first century A.D. that negative numbers were even recognized. The Chinese became the first to use negative numbers by using red rods for positive numbers, and black rods for negative numbers. Evidence suggests that negative numbers appeared first in accounting rather than mathematics.
According to Yuji Ijiri, a advocate of triple-entry accounting, the avoidance of negative numbers and thus the development of the debit/credit is one reason the progression of the double-entry accounting did not develop into a triple-entry method, as will be discussed later.

Before the development of double-entry accounting, accountants relied on a chart of balance sheet accounts to record financial transactions. This creates a system that is very difficult to examine for accountability. Consider the extreme problems such a system would pose today. Companies would publish Balance sheets without Income Statements. There would be no way for investors to examine the changes in equity. The development of double-entry accounting opened the realm of accounting into a whole new world, and a whole new chart of accounts.
The practice of double-entry accounting has existed for Centuries. “The first to write on double-entry was probably Benedetto Cortrugli, [who] finished his book on the 25th of August, 1458.” Accountants today use these same basic 500 year old techniques. Why haven’t accountants experienced the industrial revolution in technology and ideas that has effected the rest of the world? Are these century old ideas so perfect and flawless that there is not a need for change? Perhaps the publications of hundreds of documents daily on financial laws, ideas, and theories by various private, regulatory, and governmental agencies signifies the flaws and weaknesses of these age old practices.

One flaw in current accounting practices is that financial statements attempt to predict the future though historical data. When double-entry was developed, it was the need for this historical data to account for the change in equity that sparked the progression of single-entry accounting into a double-entry system. The historical records of transactions are an important part of any entity, however, this method was developed for the purpose of accounting for transactions; not predicting them. Accountants today are attempting to use a very powerful and efficient tool for a purpose in which it was not designed. By attempting to alter this tool into completely different element, it has been damaged and the original purpose hampered. Accountants are trying to both drive nails and cut wood with a saw.
What then is the solution? Accountants surely must recognize many of the flaws in the current practices. Is it time for accounting to evolve into another form? What characteristics would this new form possess? What problems would it solve, and what new problems would it create? Primitive accounting developed from single to double entry, and there have been many proposals and ideas suggesting that it is now time to progress to triple-entry accounting.

Triple Entry Accounting

There are many ideas on a triple entry accounting system. Some computer software claims to use a triple or quintuple entry method. These software packages allow the user to record information about a transaction in numerous different fields. The software can track more than just an income and asset account in each transaction. Each transaction can also be assigned a region code, item number, salesman ID, or any other code needed to organize transactions. Although these packages do allow multiple entries past the double-entry, they are merely just repeating a double entry. Each of the different multiple entries relates back to one account, and they are not inter-related. This is basically an extensive double-entry job or customer costing accounting method.
Other accountants have proposed expanding the double-entry to include triple-entry for income tax purposes. This again is not a true triple-entry, but multiple double entries using a different chart of accounts. Many problems exist with this proposal, such as depreciation. After an in-depth examination of the income tax idea, it becomes easier to just keep two different sets of books.

Perhaps a simple analysis of the progression of accounting will answer the question of what the triple-entry method should accomplish. When it was important to merely track asset balances, single-entry accounting evolved. When accountability for assets became important, accountants developed the double-entry method. Today, accountants are trying to use historical data to predict the future. Why not use predictive data to predict the future? Historical data is relevant and important, and was developed for a meaningful purpose. Predictive data, however, is also important. Accounting does not just include where you are and where you’ve been, but also where your going. Is it time to evolve into a triple-entry method that will aid in predicting the future? Does the jump to triple-entry accounting complete the accounting cycle? One accountant who believes this is the next step is Yuji Ijiri, author of Momentum Accounting and Triple-Entry Bookkeeping.
A summary of what Yuji believes can be illustrated in the following analogy. The profits of a company are like a motor trip. Sometimes the car is driving forwards, sometimes backwards, and sometimes sitting still. The Balance sheet tells the precise location of the vehicle. The Income statement tells how fast the vehicle is traveling. The speed of the vehicle describes to investors information that can be used to estimate the future only as long as the vehicle travels the same speed. The question of whether the car is accelerating or decelerating can only be determined by using past information to estimate. What if the new triple-entry method allowed for the calculation of acceleration, or the momentum of the company, as Yuji defines it. Consider the relationship of the basic accounting equation:
Owners Equity = Assets – Liabilities

Yuji points out that owners equity, or capital accounts, are “in essence subaccounts of retained earnings, [and] are thus oriented toward describing the past.” On the other side of the equation, the difference between assets and liabilities describe the present situation of the enterprise. Consider this modification of the above equation:
Present = Past
The present state of an entity is represented by past transactions. By extending the equation another step a representation of a triple accounting system as proposed by Yuji is defined:
Past = Present = Future
Under this equation, each of the three different aspects inter-related with each other aspect. Yuji modifies this equations to use the following terms:
Capital = Wealth = Budget
A common relation must exist between all three aspects of the equation, and the new accounts and reports created by the new category must indicate the current and future momentum of the entity. The development of these relationships and purposes becomes the impediment in developing the triple-entry system.

Triple-Entry Examples

The actual journal entries and methods to account for a triple-entry accounting system are very complex and would require an extensive writing. An overview how journal entries might be made and how financial statements might be effected will be presented. These methods are not flawless, and are presented to stimulate ideas and the development of such a system.
A new chart of accounts would be created through the creation of the triple-entry method. The debit/credit would either be discontinued, or a debit/credit/trebit method employed. The predictive side of the equation, the budget, would allow for a more accurate representation of future transactions. According to Yuji, accounting entities have a momentum of income producing abilities, meaning that the business has incurred events that generate the flow of future incomes. One example of this is rent collections. If a company rents out apartments, the inflow if revenue after the initial startup continues indefinitely. Another example is the hiring of a new employee. This puts into momentum the outflow of cash for an indefinite period. Yuji proposes a method of triple-entry accounting to account for such examples.
Actual journal entries proposed by Yuji are complicated. In fact, of the two publications by Yuji in a three year period, his proposed method of making journal entries changed.

By following the number trail, a basic understanding of how Yuji proposes this system can be seen. For more information about this method, Yuji has published several books on triple-entry accounting.
Financial Statements, as proposed by Yuji, would contain much more information that current statements. Because the triple-entry method incorporates the future into the statements, the momentum of the business is recorded in reference to future transactions. Yuji also incorporates the term “impulse accounting” in describing the relationship of changing momentum within a company.

The benefits of the triple entry financial statements over current financial statements is that they give the reader the numbers necessary to estimate future earnings based on present and future transactions, not historical data. Using the car analogy, these statements tell the reader how fast the car is going and how fast the car is accelerating or decelerating based on the road conditions ahead of the vehicle. The three aspects of accounting; present, past, and future, have all been integrated to give the complete financial picture.
The Budget accounts show exactly where the financial statements are or will be effected. They also show not only how fast the company is accelerating or decelerating, but also the difference in these numbers when compared to prior and future periods. This change in acceleration, or impulse as Yuji defines, shows how much the company is improving from period to period, and where the changes are occurring.
On the financial statement presented, Rental revenue is currently effecting income by $30/month. The impulse of $18/month in rental revenue this month explains an increase in the momentum of rental revenue this month by $18/month. For instance, a car accelerating at 12mph began accelerating at 30mph, an increase of 18mph.

These methods are complicated and not free from problems and errors. Yuji acknowledges that there are many fallacies in this procedure, but also points out may strengths. One of the obvious strengths in this method is the integration of future transactions into the financial statements. This enables investors to use predictive data to make predictions.
Drawbacks on this method include the complexity of the transactions, and the fact that an entire profession would have to adapt and modify a practice that is firmly engraved by generations practice. There are many other points that could be discussed on this proposal, and there are several books containing these arguments. This paper serves as an introduction to the triple-entry accounting method.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that the current accounting policies are using a powerful double-entry accounting method improperly. I believe it was designed for recording past transactions for accountability reasons. Accountants today are trying to use historical data to predict the future. It is possible to develop a system that uses predictive data to predict the future, although a completely successful method has not yet been proposed. Accountants should keep these ideas in mind throughout their professions, and perhaps someday enough ideas will be gathered that will enable the development of such a system.

There are also other topics that we have discussed in the classroom that should be addressed when designing a new system, such as valuation. Accounting is much too complicated for a simple answer. By discussing new ideas and thoughts, more answers are given. Someday, we may have a more complete picture of the accounting cycle.

Bibliography

Hotch, Ripley, “Money Matters; accounting software; evaluation,” Nation’s Business, July 1990, Vol. 78, No. 7, Pg. 40.
Ijiri, Yuji, Studies in Accounting Research #18, “Triple-Entry Bookkeeping and Income Momentum,” (American Accounting Association, 1982.
Ijiri, Yuji, Studies in Accounting Research #31, “Momentum
Accounting and Triple-Entry Bookkeeping: Exploring the
Dynamic Structure of Accounting Measurements,” (American
Accounting Association, 1989).