record

1. Document that memorializes and provides objective evidence of activities performed, events occurred, results achieved, or statements made. Records are created/received by an organization in routine transaction of its business or in pursuance of its legal obligations. A record may consist of two or more documents.

2. All documented information, regardless of its characteristics, media, physical form, and the manner it is recorded or stored. Records include accounts, agreements, books, drawings, letters, magnetic/optical disks, memos, micrographics, etc. Generally speaking, records function as evidence of activities, whereas documents function as evidence of intentions.

Good jockeys will do well on good horses, but not on broken-down nags. Both Berkshire's textile business and Hochschild Kohn had able and honest people running them. The same managers employed in a business with good economic characteristics would have achieved fine records. But they were never going to make any progress while running in quicksand. I've said many times that when a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

• Keep Receipts if You Itemize Your Deductions
• Fraud and Honesty
• Your Credit Rating and Financing a Startup
• Quadrupling Earnings
• Ironic CEO Statement