ABSTRACT
A manager wanting to run a whole-life costing analysis for a project starts with the quantification of the cashflow. Good numbers are often difficult to obtain. In particular, the decision maker needs to be very careful when using material prepared by accountants. Accountants count things in very specific and sometimes curious ways. They are not being deliberately perverse, but financial statements have to be assembled according to strict rules so that one company can be compared with another. Accountants are also very concerned about minimising taxes. The result is that their view of the world can be very different from that seen from the managerial trenches.
