I think the sense of adding the absolute values-as pointed out by @Rachel Yaghoubzadeh above-โis to ensure that negative and positive values don't cancel each other out. In your example, you have a charge and an accrual, so it's not totally mistaken to add them together.
IMHO, as TBMAs we want to ensure that we don't have line items getting unallocated, regardless of their amount.
Yes, we may want to live with small amounts, but in your case, you might decide to live with "5k" fallout (+15k-10k), where you really have more.
Let's assume that the negative amount would be capitalization, as opposed to an accrual or payback. If it gets stuck, it would still affect any capitalization reports you have.