The cartographic analogy to accounting.

Accounting is often critiqued as being inexact, outdated and not detailed enough(wrt non financial data)/too detailed(wrt financial instruments). No smoke exists without fire, so there's an element of truth in this. But if one understands accounting as a 'map' of the underlying terrain 'operations', then things begin to fall in place. There are many parallels between the two

What	Map	Accounting
Purpose	Understand terrain without visiting it	Understand company as an outsider
Detail	Depending on the 'scale'	Depending on materiality level
Other info	travelelogues/lonely planet	non financial disclosures
Assurance	Reasonable-because these are often not updated often plus on ground situation may vary	Reasonable-because 100% check never possible
Skills needed	Art and Science	Art and Science
Language	Symbols/colours	Accounting Standards

This list is not exhaustive but good enough. So those of you who have referred an atlas and then subsequently visited that place, would get an idea of how the financial statements(map) may vary from reality(ground!)