Manipulating User Behavior through Accounting Information

AbstractThe financial reporting based on accounting principles should give a true and fair view of the business reality. But sometimes, the accounting information is handled; therefore users’ behavior is manipulated. The accounting managers, who control the form and content of the financial statements issued by corporation, will make sure that these portray a picture that is favorable to them. The main objective of financial reporting must be to provide valuable information to users. So, when deciding the content of the financial statements, the information needs of the users should be taken into consideration. These needs may be assessed by analyzing their decisions for which the accounting information may prove to be helpful. In this study we analyze the techniques used for the manipulation of accounting information and we propose different solutions in order to mitigate them. The paper also presents an overview of the concept – although an exact definition was not established so far, many authors tried to give an explanation for this phenomenon