Two sets of books

rdf:langString Two sets of books

rdf:langString The concept of "two sets of books" refers to the practice of attempting to hide or disguise certain financial transactions from outsiders by having a set of fraudulent accounting records (or "books") for official use and another, the real set, for personal records. Keeping two sets of books has its disadvantages and advantages. The concept of having two sets of books is so that public traded companies can prepare the financial statements for the US Securities and Exchange Commission, investors and sometimes the Internal Revenue Service. That is considered an advantage because it shows investors that they are a rich company. Therefore, they can get more shareholders to buy their stocks. The disadvantage with these companies for having two sets of books is when they report one or both of the books to the Internal Revenue Service, they tend to lower their income to avoid taxes. Organisations that keep two sets of books can sometimes be caught out when a tax inspector or other official happens to make a visit and asks to see the books, and an inexperienced member of staff happens to be on duty and shows the wrong set of books.