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Accounting
Consistency Principle
Once a company chooses an accounting method, it should use the same method every year so comparisons are meaningful.
Consistency makes trends visible. Without it, users can't tell whether changes in profit are real or just caused by changing accounting rules.
It's using the same ruler every time you measure so the numbers stay comparable year after year.
Real world: If a company switches from FIFO to LIFO inventory valuation, it must explain the change and usually restate previous years so investors can compare apples to apples.
💡 Consistency is what makes financial statements useful over time.