The law prescribes that the accounts have to provide a ‘true and fair” view of the affairs of the firm, but this only means that the accounts must comply with generally accepted accounting principles and standards. As the generally accepted accounting principles themselves have been formulated intentionally in a way sufficiently broad to be able to accommodate very different situations. They leave room for widely different treatments of the same transaction.The publication of financial reports is basically a communicative activity.
Lying is wrong
- The liar induces a false belief in his or her interlocutor and that in itself already constitutes a harm
- Lying also harms society generally. Lying tends to destroy trust in human communications and the lower the level of trust
The Pygmalion effect