P&L: Finish Line, or Start Line?

For soon-to-be first time parents, giving birth looks like the finish line. But in retrospect, it looks more like the starting line.

To some CPAs, the P&L looks like the finish line. (Send it off to a client feeling complete and satisfied, and move on to the next.)

But what if it was looked at, more like the starting line?

...

One sounds like, "Here you go!"

and the other sounds something like, "There are some numbers in here I want to point out in this when we meet next."