Cooking the Books

Our overall economy and the retirement plans of a vast majority of working Americans rely on the stock market for their value. The stability of the market is greatly affected by perceptions of investors and their confidence in the information on which they base their decisions.

If the veracity of the financial reports provided by even a small number of corporations is brought into question, the entire market reacts. Every person counting on the market for his or her financial future is affected.

Greed and ego drive corporate officers to hide their mistakes by what is called cooking the books, and this corrupt data becomes part of the report to shareholders.

The recent ability of a few greedy individuals to severely impact every person in the market was demonstrated by the debacles of the Enron, World Com, and Global Crossing Corporations.

Irresponsible acts of cooking the books by corporate officers affect us all. Shouldn’t we hold them responsible for their recipes for disaster?