In the juxtaposition of Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton, The Reckoning describes Morris as “a good accountant and financial manager, but he was no philosopher.” Hamilton, on the other hand, was a “keen reader of the classics and such Enlightenment philosophers as Hobbes, Locke… and Hume.” Hamilton’s mix of accounting and philosophical interest was needed to transform America from a series of colonies into a nation. In other words, knowledge of accounting was not sufficient to ensure it was fully integrated into the foundation of the new nation.

Hamilton had to appeal to a greater vision, one that could only come from a philosophical perspective. Is that the same as today? As Accountants are we more effective if we can appeal to others with more than our accounting knowledge? If not, why not. If so, how?