The anecdote presented in the comic illustrates how flexible accountants are. The bosses appreciate it so much that whenever an accountant goes missing they call the Police right away. However, in order to be flexible, one has to know what is allowed and what is not in the light of the regulations in force. There is not much flexibility with respect to income tax. There is much more room for common sense in the case of provisions for liabilities, write-downs and other accounting estimates.