There is a level of understanding every manager must have of the kind of accounting practice that is currently common among leading corporations.This brief review of the major features of contemporary accounting draws on a form of case study involving companies ranging from Toyota and Chevron to Analog Devices and Pitney Bowes to illustrate how these principles are put into action and what results they produced. Using this method it is possible to present the ideas clearly without the need for anything more than a good, fundamental understanding of the tools of accounting.