Nevertheless, Alexander read them with great interest on his return from the office each day, working back over the records for the past ten years. In the weeks since he had been appointed managing director he had taken his new responsibility very seriously, as had his wife. He impressed on her the importance of understanding the accounts in detail and they developed a shared obsession with the financial aspects of the business. Now that they were personally wealthy Sally transferred her fixation with money from their still meagre housekeeping to the millions of pounds passing through the business. They quickly devoured the published accounts and soon mastered their content, but what they found intrigued them and inflamed their desire for yet further information. ‘So what do you make of these latest accounts, Alex?’ Sally asked one evening. He had just reread the most recent set. ‘They don’t say much. In fact, I would say that they are deliberately succinct – just the bare minimum required.
