True. Though accounting in general is rocket science. You just need to look at the thickness of the accounting standards book [1]. As soon as you are looking at a large group with several levels of consolidation spanning jurisdictions with different accounting standards and doing any operation that is non trivial, the accounting treatment becomes a minefield. Where I work we have a team dedicated at looking at thorny accounting issues. Outside of that team, I don’t think anyone in the organisation (including the financial reporting dept) can pretend to really understand everything.

[1] http://a1.amlimg.com/ODhlOTU0NjZkODUxYWU1OTAwOWUwYjg3YmM0OGV...