Grasping for the Wind

Artful Accounting

I have discovered, since taking my new job at Cornerstone, that accounting is more of an art than a science. Oh, its true that mathematical equations are a part of it, and that there are absolutes in the numbers, but you can make those numbers say just about anything you want it to, and that many of the calculations are based on assumptions that can change from one day to the next.

I say this because I have had to rework the numbers on a particular project at least six times in the last three days, based on different sets of assumptions. And I am just doing financial analysis! I guess that is how Enron and Worldcom got into trouble. They created a set of assumptions to create the numbers they wanted, even while staying true to GAAP! It’s a wonder what you can make the financial statements with just a little tweaking.

You know, I bet most of what we assume is absolute really isn’t especially when it comes to numbers or science. Perhaps our faith in such absolutes comes from the teaching of our parent’s modern worldview (which they imparted to us) and the humanistic outlook of both modern and postmodern thinking. I bet that the great mathematicians and scientists are the ones who figure this out. Most of us in high school biology or physics always tried to follow the rules and never progressed beyond that basic knowledge to the art beyond the principles.

Certainly there are absolutes, since God created a structured world, but human constructs (allowed by God) seem to be more art than fact. I wonder what this means for education, and how we should teach? Should we stop trying to teach absolutes in the sciences and allow art to flow into them? We wouldn’t reject sets of principles or assumptions, just identify them as such rather than calling them rules that must be followed. It works in accounting and language (especially English, grammar “rules” are crap) why not the “hard” sciences?

Posted by John on August 31, 2006 03:15 PM | Posted to Business
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