Why accounting, governance, and leadership must move together when the goal is to build companies that withstand time
Over more than two decades advising domestic companies and foreign groups through growth, international expansion, corporate restructuring, and governance processes, one recurring conclusion emerges with concerning frequency: the greatest risks do not arise when a company is struggling, but when it grows without critically interpreting its own numbers.

In this context, accounting is no longer merely a technical record. It has become a strategic instrument for assessing leadership maturity, decision quality, and a company’s ability to sustain value in the long term.

Companies do not lose relevance due to lack of revenue.
They lose relevance when their numbers no longer reflect economic reality.

Growth Without Criteria Is Risk Disguised as Success
It is common to see organizations reporting positive indicators while accumulating silent fragilities. This occurs when accounting begins to serve the narrative of growth rather than the business strategy itself.

In practice, this misalignment appears when fundamental accounting principles stop guiding decisions — especially accrual, prudence, and transparency. Throughout my work as a board advisor, this is precisely where intervention becomes essential: helping leaders see what the numbers seem to conceal.

Improper Revenue Recognition
When accounting results fail to match economic reality.

Premature or inappropriate revenue recognition is one of the most frequent practices in high-performance pressure environments. It creates an artificial perception of growth that may support short-term decisions but compromises the entire structure in the medium and long term.

This distortion directly impacts performance assessment, valuation processes, investment rounds, and strategic board decisions.

More than a technical mistake, it represents a departure from the accrual principle, which requires coherence between the economic effort period and revenue recognition.

Omitted Liabilities Do Not Disappear
They merely wait for their moment of impact.

Another recurring critical issue is the omission or understatement of financial liabilities. Tax, labor, contractual, or contingent obligations that are not properly reflected on the balance sheet do not cease to exist. They simply become invisible to strategic decision-making.

Particularly in structures with foreign shareholders, ignored liabilities often evolve into operational blockages, shareholder disputes, executive liability, and abrupt value erosion.

Here, prudence is no longer theoretical. It becomes a leadership practice.

Off-Balance-Sheet Structures Require Substance and Transparency
Off-balance-sheet arrangements may be legitimate when they have clear economic purpose and real substance. The problem arises when they are used to conceal risk, indebtedness, or commitments that should be clearly disclosed.

In today’s environment of deep audits, sophisticated investors, and regulatory integration, lack of transparency is no longer strategy. It is direct exposure.

Accounting as a Measure of Leadership Maturity
Throughout my professional experience, it has become clear that accounting reveals far more than numbers. It reveals how leadership perceives its own business and the level of responsibility with which growth is conducted.

Mature companies use accounting to make difficult decisions, recognize risks early, and structure growth responsibly. Immature companies use accounting to sustain narratives that do not withstand time.

Governance begins on the balance sheet.
And the balance sheet reveals the maturity of leadership.

Ultimately, truly successful companies are not those that report the highest figures in a given fiscal year. They are those whose numbers withstand time, audit scrutiny, and market pressure.

That resilience is not born from accounting creativity.
It is born from discipline, ethics, and a clear long-term vision.