The Breakthrough Challenge: 10 Ways to Connect Today's Profits With Tomorrow's Bottom Line

Chapter 3Apply True Accounting Principles

Accountants may seem to be unlikely agents of market transformation, but they—and their discipline—are central to Plan B. Some leaders, including some very successful ones, insist that they operate from their gut, using their instincts and intuition, but even they must often turn to the numbers to see how they are doing—and most people in business, the financial markets, and the public sector depend on the latest numbers provided by their organizational dashboards as they navigate, steer, brake, and accelerate their way through the obstacle courses set by modern markets.

By their very nature and training, most accountants are conservative. They are encouraged—indeed generally required—to look backward ...