Dale L Gerboth on The Accounting Game.

According to author, accounting is treated as if it were a self-contained system in which all that matters are the events and circumstances described by the rules. For the one feature that best distinguishes a game is that it can be described entirely in terms of the rules for playing it. From the standpoint of a game as a game, nothing happens except what the rules describe. In a game, the rules select in advance the only facts that make a difference in regulating conduct. In chess, there can be no new kind of checkmate not foreseen by the rules and (excluding opponent resignation) no new way to win except by checkmate. But the game of accounting is different. Or, more precisely, accounting must be different if it is to be more than just a game, if it is to deal with circumstances that make a difference in the real world. For in the real world of business, as opposed to the artificial world of games, it is impossible to specify in advance every fact that makes a difference or should make a difference--in governing conduct. Accounting is regulated by rules; it is not constituted by them.