Friday, September 04, 2009

Too good to be true...

Sometimes, financial figures do not make sense without us realizing it. Some creative accountants know what the taxman is looking for, like previous year's comparative figures and gross profit margins. They can cook up figures depending on how you want it! You give them the net profit you want, and they can work backwards by adjusting the closing stock for instance. So, we must not assume that what looks right is necessarily correct. In fact, honest figures might not make sense, like in this example:

Minimum Wage

A man owned a small Ranch In Texas. The Texas Work Force Department claimed he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent out to interview him.

"I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them," demanded the agent.

"Well," replied the farmer, "there's my farm hand who's been with me for 3 years. I pay him $200 a week plus free room and board.

The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $150 per week plus free room and board.

Then there's the half-wit. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night. He also sleeps with my wife occasionally."

"That's the guy I want to talk to ... the half-wit," says the agent.

"That would be me," replied the Rancher.
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