cooks the books
Manipulates financial statements
Cooks the books means to falsify financial records, typically to hide losses, embezzle funds, or evade taxes.
The phrase suggests manipulating numbers the way a cook might alter a recipe—adjusting figures to produce a more favorable result: The CFO had been cooking the books for years before the audit caught it.
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- embezzlementFraudulent taking of entrusted assets
- money launderingDisguising criminal proceeds' origins
- tax evasionIllegally avoiding government dues
- white collar crimeNonviolent financial wrongdoing
integrity · fines · transparency · creative accounting · smoke and mirrors · securities fraud · whistleblowing · accountability · misappropriation · under the table · slush fund · forgery · Ponzi scheme · insider trading · pull the wool over someone's eyes · imprisonment · lawsuits · bankruptcy fraud