Thus, using financial accounting principles to define product costs may lead to under- and overstatement of individual product costs. For reporting inventory values and cost of sales, this may not matter. Inventory values and cost of sales are reported in the aggregate, and the under and overstatements may wash out to the extent that the values reported on the financial statements are reasonably accurate At the individual product level, however, distorted product costs can cause managers to make significant decision errors For example, a manager might erroneously deemphasize and overprice a product that is, in reality, highly profitable.