beancount

English

Etymology

From bean +‎ count.

Noun

beancount (plural beancounts)

  1. A statistical measurement that is used as an indicator of something, but which does not capture the whole picture.
    • 1986, John B. Harris, Eric Markusen, Nuclear Weapons and the Threat of Nuclear War, page 257:
      Yet (as Howard Estes points out in his contribution to Chapter 8), these "force exchange" comparisons, although they may reveal more about the relative military capabilities of the two countries than do beancounts, are themselves based on uncertain information about each side's forces.
    • 1989, Ted Galen Carpenter, Collective Defense Or Strategic Independence?::
      Answering this question properly requires going beyond the misleading "beancounts" that the Defense Department often uses to persuade that the nation is still too weak .
    • 1990, Laurinda L. Rohn, Conventional Forces in Europe, page 46:
      The limitations of simple beancounts are apparently recognized by both NATO and the Pact.
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