ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Philosophy of accounting

Hey there, kiddo! Today, we're gonna talk about something that grown-ups do a lot - accounting, and more specifically the philosophy behind it. Now, accounting is like a big puzzle where you have to keep track of all the money and where it's going.

But, before we get into the specifics, let's first understand what philosophy is. Well, you know how you ask a lot of questions like "why does the sky look blue?" or "why do I have to eat my vegetables?" Philosophy is kinda like that - asking questions about big ideas and trying to make sense of them.

So, when we talk about the "philosophy of accounting" we're asking questions like "what is the purpose of accounting?" and "how should we decide what to include in our books?" It's like we're trying to figure out the best way to do accounting, like a grown-up version of playing with blocks to see what fits together.

One big idea in the philosophy of accounting is ethics. Ethical means doing what's right and fair. So, we ask questions like "is it okay to hide money on our books so we don't have to pay taxes?" or "should we include money we owe to someone else in our accounting books?" These questions help us make sure we're doing the right thing when it comes to accounting.

Another idea in the philosophy of accounting is accuracy. Accuracy means making sure the numbers we put down are right. We don't want to accidentally add up our numbers wrong and lose track of our money! So, we might ask questions like "how can we double-check our math?" or "should we include estimates in our books, or only exact numbers?"

Overall, the philosophy of accounting is like trying to put together a really tough puzzle. We're asking big questions about what's right and what makes sense, and trying to figure out the best way to keep track of our money. It can be tricky, but it's important to make sure we're doing the right thing and keeping our books accurate. And hey, maybe one day you'll grow up to be an accountant and solve these puzzles for a living!