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pragmatism vs theory

I've been running into this issue every now and then...the issue of following the guidance word-for-word or being more pragmatic and coming up with some reasonable procedures. I fall under the pragmatism umbrella and really can't find a good way to essentially say that sometimes, it's just not practical to follow the guidance to a T. There is a lot of judgment involved in our work, and one of the principle tenets in accounting, if I'm right, is cost-benefit. Sometimes it's just not worth the hours. Aiming for perfection at the expense of hours and hours of time is just plain ridiculous and unreasonabe. I'm currently dealing with a senior who needs everything to be spotless, perfectly documented, and literally stresses out if he doesn't find what he's looking for in the guidance. Seriously, we're not saving lives here.
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