@hanschoi86, thanks for the added clarity. And Yikes! Out of interest, was looking at your guys “standard” vs “itemized” deductions is quite scary! Some empathy shed. What really works in the complexity is that different states may apply different taxes 
Yes, the “accounting rule” I speak of applies to “businesses” (self-employment qualifies here, which is the audience I was aiming at).
I imagined that nobody would be competing as a company (you’d hence be acting as self-employed) - think being an individual or team of individuals was part of the competition rules.
Wikipedia affirms that the “accounting rule” applies to “corporations” (self-employed inclusive)
Reading in, If you’d like to pursuit this route, you need to be eligible for schedule C (or C-EZ) and file under those schedule terms. See IRS.
Found this interesting, thanks for the conversation & input