Created by Karl H Richter © 2025
Sumptuous Accounting™ is an intellectual provocation, taking a light-hearted approach to a very serious issue – fixing capitalism.
The working paper Sumptuous Accounting™ uses the sci-fi genre and a story-telling narrative to explore how capitalism could be evolved. Sci-fi allows us the creativity to explore an alternative reality. It frees us from preconceptions and the inertia of habit. Good sci-fi is rooted in practical feasibility – it is not fantasy.
This thought experiment allows us to ask: ''how can capitalism be improved by changing our socio-economic construct?'
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ABSTRACT:
Sumptuous Accounting™ is an accounting methodology that incorporates the non-financial impacts of commercial transactions. These economic externalities – positive or negative – are not reflected in conventional accounting methodologies. They are often excluded from market prices and financial asset valuations. Such omissions can result in market failure if price sensitive decisions are disconnected from their broader societal consequences.
The methodology employs a rigorous three-layer data architecture that maps onto and redresses known reasons for the divergence of non-financial data: (1) capturing raw, objective non-financial data throughout supply chains to fix measurement divergence; (2) formulating these data into sumpt values via standardised calculations to accommodate scope divergence; and (3) applying stakeholder-specific, normalised scores that reflect policy priorities to facilitate weight divergence.
Optionally, Sumptuous Accounting™ can be extended to calculate dynamic Value Added Tax (VAT) rates and to compensate for externalities. This can align market incentives with societal values, functioning as a behavioural tax mechanism that can both penalise perceived negative externalities and reward positive ones.
The methodology for dynamic VAT is designed with procedural consistency, transparency, and non-discriminatory application in mind. This ensures compatibility with WTO and GATT rules by treating domestic and imported goods equivalently. The methodology offers a unified and auditable framework for internalising externalities across all economic activities, supporting better informed decision-making for consumers, businesses, and regulators.
SUMMARY PRINCIPLES:
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For more information contact@sumptuousaccounting.org