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<b>Letters:</b> Gaps in GAAPs

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Business Standard New Delhi
Last Updated : Jan 29 2013 | 3:33 AM IST

After the Enron, Andersen, Xerox, Tyco and the WorldCom snafus, a new lexicon for those in the financial sector has evolved. Some the names have been converted into verbs — enroned, xeroxed (this is not the usual one), etc. Now with some more “truth” having emerged, here are some of the terms to revive your memory. 

 

  • EBIT — Earnings Before Internal Tampering
  • EBITDA — Earnings Before I Tricked Damn Auditor
  • CEO — Chief Embezzlement Officer
  • CFO — Corporate Fraud Officer (though some may prefer another word beginning with F)
  • NAV — Normal Andersen Valuation
  • FRS — Fantasy Reporting Standards
  • P/E — Parole Entitlement
  • EPS — Eventual Prison Sentence
  • RONW — Return on Notional Worth

    Evidently, GAAPs has several Gaps! These events also led people like George Bush to comment on them. He announced that Saddam Hussein had agreed to have his nuclear/biological warheads counted — only that Andersen should do it!

  • Soon after the Enron fiasco, there was a new book out — The Enrob Annual Report. However, let us not be harsh on the corporate sector — I read on the rear windshield of a car that stealing, theft, robbery etc are crimes because government does not like competition!

    T R Ramaswami, Mumbai

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    First Published: Jan 13 2009 | 12:00 AM IST

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