Many times, however, losses result from events and factors known to a company for a long time. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for companies to actively conceal losses - often, this is done for self protection by executives. These small deceptions frequently snowball and before long accounting rules are bent and broken. Our investigations have uncovered these abusive practices at major companies whose securities are listed on all major exchanges. These companies later take the products back hoping to sell it later.
Many companies also use fictitious sales.
For most companies, a sale cannot be formally recorded until the product has been shipped to a customer. Sadly, some public companies just make them up. For example, one major software company was known to ship products to made up addresses. This is frequently done on March 30, June 29, September 29, and December 30, near the very end of a quarterly reporting period. There are literally dozens of tricks like these well-known practices.