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摘要

To anyone at all mathematically inclined, it might seem strange that accounting has various different ways of measuring the same thing and sometimes gets different answers too. There are a number of reasons for this - and not pertaining to the supposed flexibility of accountants. The most important reason is that accounting gives a two-dimensional measure in a three-dimensional world. It tries to capture a lot of information in a way that is comparable and, in so doing, it makes simplifications.