No, lean accounting has nothing to do with the South Beach Diet! Heck, you don’t even need to count calories to become lean! But you do need to count what matters to the success of your business if you want to practice lean accounting. Though measuring what matters sounds intuitive, too many organizations are attempting to drive operational improvement with data that actually impedes the goals of improving customer satisfaction and financial results. Indeed, non accounting managers in numerous lean organizations across the globe would argue that their accountants are better off counting calories or carbohydrates rather than tracking performance indicators geared to the bygone era of mass production. The reason? Mass production metrics contradict lean thinking and often compel managers to make dysfunctional decisions.