Accountants frequently cite the going-concern assumption to justify using historical costs rather than market values in measuring assets. Market values are of less implication to an entity using its assets rather than selling them. On the other hand if an entity is liquidating it must use liquidation values to report assets. The economic activity of a business is usually recorded and reported in money terms. Money measurement is the use of a monetary unit such as the dollar instead of physical or else other units of measurement. Using a particular financial unit provides accountants with a common unit of measurement to report economic activity. Without a financial unit it would be not possible to add such items as equipment, buildings and inventory on a balance sheet. Monetary statements identify their unit of measure such as the dollar in the United States so the statement user can make valid comparisons of amounts. For instance it would be hard to compare relative asset amounts or profitability of a company reporting in US dollars with a company reporting in Japanese yen.