cook the books

cook the books

To falsify financial records for a company or organization. My partner had been cooking the books for years, but because I was the CEO, I got the blame for our company's collapse.
See also: book, cook
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

cook the books

Falsify a company's financial records, as in An independent audit showed that they've been cooking the books for years. This slangy phrase was first recorded in 1636.
See also: book, cook
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

cook the books

1. If someone cooks the books, they dishonestly change the figures in their financial accounts. She knew that when the auditors looked over the books there would be no hiding the fact that she had cooked the books and £3 million was missing. Four years ago, he vowed to strike back after discovering that a promoter was cooking the books. Note: The `books' in this expression are books of accounts.
2. If someone cooks the books, they dishonestly change written records. The committee admitted that, in its recent trials, many officials cooked the books.
See also: book, cook
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

cook the books

alter records, especially accounts, with fraudulent intent or in order to mislead. informal
Cook has been used since the mid 17th century in this figurative sense of ‘tamper with’ or ‘manipulate’.
See also: book, cook
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

ˌcook the ˈbooks

(informal) change facts or figures in order to make the situation seem better than it is or to hide the fact that you have stolen money: The two directors of the company had been cooking the books, a local court heard yesterday.
See also: book, cook
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

cook the books

Falsely adjust the accounts. The verb “to cook” has meant to manipulate ever since the 1600s and continued to be used, especially with reference to changing figures, to the present day. The current phrase popularized the concept, its rhyme more attractive than simply “cook the accounts,” and it has largely replaced other versions since the second half of the 1900s. The 1986 film Legal Eagles had it (“The three partners were cookin’ the books”), as did a New York Times editorial about the Environmental Protection Agency: “The agency was thus ordered to cook the books, deliberately underestimating the reductions that would be possible under alternative approaches . . .” (March 21, 2005).
See also: book, cook
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • cook the accounts
  • the blame for (something)
  • blame for
  • blame for (something)
  • blamed
  • a/the fish rots from the head down
  • a/the fish stinks from the head down
  • be had up (for something)
  • show up
References in periodicals archive
We need a commitment to tackle the causes of poverty, unfortunately what we get from spin-obsessed Labour is a proposal to cook the books. The only way the Government can tackle child poverty is to implement a genuine programme of wealth redistribution.
He'd also like to see additional corporate reforms focused on scrutinizing those who "cook the books."
EU internal market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: "Auditors are our major line of defence against crooks who want to cook the books. Parmalat was a reminder of what happens when that defence fails."
This isn't an exercise in objectivity: While the authors do believe that at many companies, "option-induced avarice spurred corporate chieftains to cut corners, cook the books and dupe investors into buying shares at inflated prices," they also contend that "most corporations in America would enjoy more motivated workers and larger profits if they embraced partnership capitalism centered around employee stock options."
Levin $178,364,000 4,700 Warner Source: "Executive Excess 2002: CEOs Cook the Books, Skewer the Rest of Us," United for a Fair Economy
Gordon Brown likes PFI because it means he can cook the books.
Putting a library in a glass box facing south is of course tempting fate to cook the books, but the stacks are kept to the Inner area, under the Intermediate floor, and so provided with a good degree of protection.
There are lots of ways to cook the books, and accountants are too willing to make use of them because if they do they can be on the receiving end of a very grateful client.