I know business uses accrual accounting, and it certainly helps for depreciating assets, tax purposes, and financial management, but they are able to plan longer.
Let's be honest. We're in a political environment that happens to change on occasion, fortunately. That is part of the dynamic here; that's part of the issue. It's not just about....
I've been on a municipal council where we debated issues. We had a ten-year forecast that we approved as a council. We actually committed future councils to expenditures, and so on. Since I'm new here, does that really happen? When we pass the budget, are we really...? What's the difference here in terms of assets, and so on?
I want to use the example you used with the environmental piece. The government has not actually approved spending that money on the cleanup. You book the cash--you book the liability--waiting for an answer from here. If we were in the other method, you would have actually taken the charge right now on that, whether or not the government had decided to clean it up or take it to court or whatever. Is that correct?