The problems of how to present data and what data to collect are connected but somewhat separate issues, and there are costs associated with both.

At my workplace we had (note the past tense) a product line that was the owner's pet project, and he was convinced that it was profitable. After years of wrangling with others in the company it was finally decided to spend the time (and money) to actually gather data to do a proper cost accounting analysis of all products. Lo and behold, it was found that this product was consistently losing money. The owner, to his credit, swallowed his pride and mothballed the non-profitable product.

My point is, we have to convince those in power to spend the money to even collect the data that can lead the way to informed decisions.