Hi, there! Could you help me to explain the meaning of the following sentence? I can't understand how the "or" and "and" connect the meaning of the sentence. Thank you!

Expenses incurred in the same accounting period may or may not be directly related and easily recognised as matching to the revenue earned from tax-invoiced sales.

Question

Hi, there! Could you help me to explain the meaning of the following sentence? I can't understand how the "or" and "and" connect the meaning of the sentence. Thank you!

Expenses incurred in the same accounting period may or may not be directly related and easily recognised as matching to the revenue earned from tax-invoiced sales.

Answer

There are two different parts to the sentence.

I may or may not be tall. You don't know. It is just giving two possibilities.

The 'and' links two different ideas.

Accounting books like to make things complicated!

This all refers back to the matching concept I talked about. You have to think whether a cost incurred, relates to the revenue earned. That is what the sentence is saying.