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The number games: from cash-flow cons to misleading metrics, spotting jugglery in financial data

The number games: from cash-flow cons to misleading metrics, spotting jugglery in financial data
The number games: from cash-flow cons to misleading metrics, spotting jugglery in financial data
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Synopsis

While trying to size up a company’s performance or financial standing based on documents and public data, one may encounter creative renditions of numbers that can mislead and play tricks. What are the ways in which such manipulation can find its way into financial statements, and what are the tell-tale signs?

Numbers don’t lie, right? The traditional belief is: when it comes to working with numbers, things will add up. But when one is trying to size up a company’s performance or financial standing based on documents and public data, there may sometimes be creative renditions of numbers that can mislead and play tricks. With increasing instances of corporate-governance issues cropping up, the question that arises is: What are the pitfalls that
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The Economic Times