accounting fraud

accounting fraud definition - finance
Knowingly falsifying accounting records, such as sales or cost records, in order to boost net income or sales figures. Accounting fraud is illegal and subjects the company and the executives involved to civil lawsuits. Company officials may resort to accounting fraud to reverse a loss or to ensure that they meet Wall StreetÂ’s earnings expectations.

Webster's New World Finance and Investment Dictionary Copyright © 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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