Enron. WorldCom. What comes to your mind when you think of these organizations? The use of variable interest entities and misleading classifications of assets to misstate earnings. Accounting ...

Daniel Liberto is a journalist with over 10 years of experience working with publications such as the Financial Times, The Independent, and Investors Chronicle. Dr. Melody Bell is a personal finance ...

Accounting practices in the U.S. have improved over the years, but there are still plenty of ways that companies can manipulate their financial results. And not just in the usual ways--the balance ...

IMGCAP(1)]Ah! Creative accounting! No! Stop! There is only one way to account for activity and that is the right way. Processing Content Account for activity according to the textbooks—that is the ...

“Creative accounting” is really bad. Except when it’s good. Say that in a roomful of managers, and you get nervous laughter. For me, it evokes a wonderful old New Yorker cartoon by Robert Weber, where ...