Cook the Books

Cook the Books

Welcome to English in a Minute!

I don’t know about you, but I love looking though cookbooks and finding new recipes.

Are Anna and Jonathan going to tell me about a great new cookbook?

What happened to Rita the accountant?

Her desk is empty…

She was fired!

Turns out she was reporting all kind of false earnings for Years.

Rita was cooking the books?

Wow, that does not seem like her.

To “cook the books” means to be dishonest about a company’s earnings.

This illegal.

“books” in the case refers to accounting books where businesses record financial information.

But “Cook?”

Word experts say this usage means to present something in an unnatural, changed form.

And that’s English in a Minute!