Rev Up the Bulldozer

If you imagine using a bulldozer to scrape the assets into a pile, a group of representatives would surround to the rubble and lay claim to it:

* Retained earnings is the portion of profits not distributed to shareholders as dividends. While technically the money belongs to the shareholders, it is controlled by management.

The balance sheet always balances because we are matching “stuff” with “people that paid for the stuff.” These people have separate agendas. They choose measures that support their agenda, and they pressure management to meet or exceed their performance targets.