Accounting Conservatism

It's all about the profits. When in doubt, honest accountants apply conservatism to every transaction they record. If something can be expensed up front, it generally should be, and with proper accounting, according to GAAP, the lower profit number should be the one presented to investors. All kinds of chicanery can happen in the presentation of real profits. Tons of wiggle room for con artists exist when they record such subjective terms like "depreciation," "amortization," "allowance for doubtful accounts," "increase or decrease in value of inventory," "liquidity discounts," and all kinds of other elements in a complex large company that can turn a dollar of share in profits into twelve cents, where conservative accounting rules are applied.