Think Differently About Ledgers

Audience Favorites & Essential Starting Points

Curated from our most engaged and widely shared video lectures across accounting history, system architecture, mainframe foundations, and ledger design.

Historical Foundations

Luca Pacioli: Summa de Arithmetica

The 1494 masterpiece that documented double-entry bookkeeping and laid the groundwork for modern commerce.

★ Historical Series

Automation History

1961 IBM Historical MICR System

How Magnetic Ink Character Recognition transformed high-speed check processing and banking automation.

★ Historical Systems

Platform Architecture

z/OS on Vagrant: A Personal Mainframe

Running enterprise mainframe operating systems locally to develop and test modern ledger technologies.

★ Platforms & Code

Enterprise Architecture

Blockchain & Next-Gen ERP Systems

Why traditional ERP databases struggle with inter-enterprise trust, and where shared ledgers fit.

★ Blockchain Gaps

Level of Experience

Subject Areas

System Architecture

A function for everything, and everything in a function

Flow

Financial Processes

Perspective generation — how measurement is done

Examine Measurement

Fintech

How is Fintech changing business systems

Financial Ledgers

Accounting & Risk

Core central functions — the basis of financial services

Data Focus

Coding & Platforms

Technology foundations — from mainframe to cloud

Investigate

ERP Systems

Packages and processes — fit for purpose

Business Systems

Historical Bookkeeping

An incredible system developed over 500 years ago

History

Historical Systems

From hardware to software — automation principles

Automation Principles

Series

Each series walks through all related posts on a single topic for a complete picture. Choose one to start.

Finance in Financial Services

How to approach Finance Transformation in Financial Services

Transformation

Social Commerce

The future of Social Commerce will change our world

Shared Ledgers

Conversations

Learn from listening to others

Connections

System Architecture

A function for everything, and everything in a function

Flow

Fintech

How is Fintech changing business systems

Financial Ledgers

Data Supply Chains

A Data Supply Chain turns transactions into analytical outputs

Consider Data

Metric Engine

Unlike a Search Engine simply finding data, a Metric Engine measures positions

Innovation

Social Risk Pools

Social risk pools and the flow of information will reward trustworthiness

Ubiquitous Information

Historical Bookkeeping

An incredible system developed over 500 years ago

History

Punchcards

Yes really. If you understand them, many systems will make much more sense.

Fundamentals

Blockchain Gaps

Shared ledgers will change the world, but a ledger is more than just blockchain

Blockchain Scale

Data Quality

Measurement of the world with flawed data is flawed measurement

Stewardship

Estimating Processes

Computing needs for reporting systems can be estimated if you know how

Show me How

Introductory Principles

Basic data principles for ledgers

Learn

Basic Bookkeeping

How to measure the world, consistently and accurately

Measurement

Reclass

Perspectives in data change based upon needs

Structure

ERP Selection

Consider what ERP System might be helpful

Fit for Purpose

Tabulating Systems

Understanding Legacy System Processes

Dig Deeper

Business Rules

How the organization is brought together in data

Data Integration

Reporting Attributes

Characteristics of quality financial reporting, and those who produce it

Accuracy & Integrity

Finance Department Costs

How measurement is done, and what it costs

Consider

Allocations

The reversal of transaction gather, allocation is the assignment of costs to units

Costing

Actual Conversations

Guest conversations with practitioners, academics, and IBM colleagues — Tata Rao, Rakesh Kant, Dr. Eric Denna, Tom Hall, Randall Ness, Jeff Wolfers, Mauricio Magaldi, Ewan Puckle, Alex Hume, Jim Hladyshewsky, and more.