Re: Playing Accountant

[Derek A. Neighbors]

> The issue Derek raised wasn't about fluctuating exchange rates AFAICT. 
> It
> was more about the changes in the value of a single currency over time. His
> example for instance argues that the value of 1 dollar today is different
> from the value of 1 dollar in 60 years time. Both are still called 1 dollar
> though. I believe this is what is termed inflation but I stand to be
> corrected. Of course inflation can be positive as well as negative
> (devaluation).

that is correct.

> I have no clear views on how to deal with this as I am not a domain expert
> (i.e. accountant or other such finance professional). Accountants obviously
> have a mechanism for dealing with this. We just need to get into the heads
> of a few friendly accountant and get them to spill the beans...

actually i think they pretty much ignore it. :) as generally the inflation
change from year to year is minimal and most accountants dont look back past
a year or two.

so the second part of the question would be do accountants or fiscal 
analysts
really care?  i would say probably not except in hyper inflation, but who
knows.

Derek Neighbors
GNU Enterprise
http://www.gnue.org
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