Financial reporting
According to an old joke, every business has at least three sets of accounts: one for the tax authorities, one for the bankers, and one for the owners. Of course, the implication is that these figures are fixed or faked. You definitely do not want to be part of this. But where you are in control, you will want to restate the numbers to extract maximum value. Management, tax and financial reporting are each driven by differing objectives, and each produces a different view of the same numbers. In general, one should not influence the others directly. You want to select the most appropriate format for the task in hand – and you may well end up with three legitimately different sets of accounts.
‘Not all dishonest accounting ...
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