Although accounting principles do not change, I think it is reasonable to say that their application to any particular industry, and to any specific business in that industry, usually requires careful analysis and sound judgment. This statement is certainly true of the construction industry. This book cannot take the place of detailed information nor of the experience with individual problems of any particular construction company. It can, how ever, survey the problems peculiar to the construction industry and indicate how to apply standard accounting techniques to ar rive at sound solutions. With operating conditions so varied and the individual con tractor's circumstances likely to be so complex, it is often necessary to go back and review basic accounting and business principles in relation to the specific conditions in a given company before management can use accounting as a true operational tool. It is for this reason that this book is devoted more to the why than to the how of construction accounting. Certainly, among the techniques described, the experienced accountant will find few, if any, that are basically unfamiliar to him, but he may see them applied in ways that may be somewhat unexpected.