Accurate initial conditions have the task of precisely capturing and fixing the free integration constants of the flow considered. This is trivial for regular ordinary differential equations, but a complex problem for differential-algebraic equations (DAEs) because, for the latter, these free constants are hidden in the flow. We deal with linear time-varying DAEs and obtain an accurate initial condition by means of applying both a reduction technique and a projector based analysis. The highlighting of two canonical subspaces, the flow-subspace and its canonical complement, plays a special role. In order to be able to apply different DAE concepts simultaneously, we first show that the very different looking rank conditions on which the regularity notions of the different concepts (elimination of unknowns, reduction, dissection, strangeness, and tractability) are based are de facto consistent. This allows an understandingof regularity independent of the methods.