Creative Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Creative Accounting - Essay Example It has been pointed out that conflicting interests of shareholders and managers often lead to the use of creating accounting. After having successfully assembled the resources, the company is also required to assure all its stakeholders that it is indeed making good use of the resources in a manner benefitting all the stakeholders. In fact creative accounting is done very much within the legal framework and the prevailing accounting standards, but quite often done to camouflage the actual picture. It won't be an exaggeration if we say that creative accounting is done with the help of the weaker points in the law of the land and the accounting standards. Creating accounting has also been termed as 'window dressing', 'aggressive accounting' or 'fiscal gimmickry' by analysts from time to time. People from outside the company as well as stakeholders from within the company make use of financial accounting details to arrive at a decision regarding their decision to continue with the company or look for a better opportunity. The shareholders will go through the financial details in order to figure out the profit margins and percentage their own earnings in the form of dividends, interests or bonus shares. Some of the inferences that could be drawn using financial accounting information include; Creating accounting is therefore an effort to influence all these ind... v. Pointing out the lapses in utilizing the financial resources judiciously vi. Putting a stop to corrupt practices and different types of pilferages taking place within the organization vii. Ensuring that the accounting practices are in tune with GAAP viii. Assessing the need for further inputs in the form of finances, workforce or other resources for ensuring functioning of the organization Creating accounting is therefore an effort to influence all these indicators in order to remain out of immediate trouble. Manipulation in maintaining the account books is one such practice, use of which by some companies has come to light, during the last couple of years. Accounting as such is used for maintaining the account of quantitative information about the transactions involving finances and resources of a company. In other words it is the process of identifying, measuring, handling and communicating the financial information about different economic entities for being used by the concerned parties. Showcasing healthy account books in the public domain certainly helps the company and its management in attracting better reviews and commitments for the future growth of the company. This often results in managements resorting to creative accounting practices, which is mainly done to influence the opinion about the company and sometimes to conceal some unethical practices of the m anagement or the company. Some of the widely used practices for manipulating the account books include; Making use of the depreciation i.e. by profits can be inflated by increasing the useful life of an asset and thus spreading the charge over a longer period of life. For example a company can spread over the useful life of its