Lean accounting looks at cost reports on a daily basis, as opposed to after the fact in weekly or month-end reports as is common in traditional accounting; it views capacity as an asset instead of just idle time, and sees inventory as a liability and not an asset.
The lean accounting process itself frees up the time of the financial people by eliminating a great number of transactions, reports, reconciliations and meetings so that they can be less like "bean counters" and more like consultants, providing timely, detailed, focused reports as to costs at any step in customer fulfillment.
