The public tends to think of the delayed budget approval - on July 13 instead of April 1 - as an abstraction, an accounting matter.

The issue is before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the authority on domestic accounting matters.

By the middle of last week, Bell Atlantic had received an affirmative response from the S.E.C. on the accounting matter.

Its real theme is that accounting matters.

The outlay problem results not only from complex accounting matters but also from new spending envisioned by Congress and the Administration.

If the accounting matter could be resolved, the Postal Service would no longer be on the verge of "default," but the long term problem would remain.

A University of Chicago professor, Roman Weil, was brought in to help field questions on the accounting matters.

Part of the decline reflects Dow Jones's costs in acquiring Telerate, an accounting matter that has nothing to do with the unit's performance.

Since their creation, they have original jurisdiction for most local, county, and regional accounting matters in continental France and its overseas dependancies.

Spectrum dismissed Arthur Andersen in late 1993 in part, the firm said, because of disagreements with management over "an accounting matter."