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“What is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures
or conversation?”
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Perfection has one grave defect; it is apt to be dull.
W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up
There is only one place you will nd any pictures or conver-
sation in the kinds of books accountants keep: the annual
report to shareholders of a corporation. Otherwise, and I’ll be
right up front about this, accounting books and records are
pretty dull. Perhaps this is because accountants try awfully
hard for perfection, coming lots closer than most professions,
such as doctors or lawyers.
In this chapter, we’re going