A major theme of this book is that different financial information is required for different purposes, but my experience indicates that this approach can confuse students. In one chapter of a typical book, students are told that costs should be allocated to products including a fair share of overhead costs; in another chapter, they are told that some of the allocated costs are irrelevant and should be disregarded. In yet another chapter, they are told that costs should be related to people (responsibility centres) and not products, whereas elsewhere no mention is made of responsibility centres.