How do accountants use statistics?

Question by MMmm: How do accountants use statistics?
I need examples of what common statistical concepts are used by accountants in their jobs.

Best answer:

Answer by Curt Monash
1. They estimate things like the fraction of revenue that will come back in returns, the fraction of accounts receivable that will turn into bad debt, or the value of stock options. Usually, they don’t use intelligent statistical analysis. Instead, they either simplemindedly project from the past, or else do a worst-case kind of analysis. But they might use stats.

2. When auditing, they test a few details to see if there are errors. How big should their sample size be?

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