Accounting Convention

The ways accountants "do things."

The common practices of accountants are known as accounting conventions. They’re not legally binding methods, but they are the way you do things if you’re an accountant that doesn’t want to get fired, sued, or go to jail. All professions have conventions. There are no laws, for example, stating that TV journalists can’t type with their tongue while on camera, but that practice will probably get you fired. There are no laws against a lawyer juggling in court, but he probably won’t win many cases. And although there’s no law against a writer of clever finance definitions listing 17 zany comparisons to accounting convention, nobody would read them.