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Accounting standards do change all the time. Enron forced a change in how variable interest entities are treated. Rise of multi national conglomerates added comprehensive income accounting to account for FX. Most recently, rise of SaaS changed the way revenue and costs are accrued for multi year contracts.

The debate is what is the point of accounting standard - is it to calculate standardized figures like revenue and earnings in the most consistent way possible across all industries? Or is it to splinter the accounting world by adding a myriad of industry specific terms like “subscribers” and “churn” and even “EBITDA” that only apply to some companies but not all? I prefer the former but it’s a debated topic.




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