cook the books
idiomatic phrase
informal
: to alter official accounting records in order to deceive or mislead
Congress cooked the books with phony spending cuts and accounting gimmickry to appear to reduce the federal deficit.—
Colleen O'Connor
Colleen O'ConnorExamples of cook the books in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The Government alleges that the failure to estimate project costs led Austal managers to cook the books in an effort to avoid disciplinary action from company leadership in Australia.
—Craig Hooper, Forbes, 2 Apr. 2023
Finally, at the core of Cuomo’s misbehavior is the arrogance of power, which was also evident in his efforts to cook the books on nursing-home deaths that resulted from his reckless COVID-19 policies.
—The Editors, National Review, 3 Aug. 2021
That included Robert Knight, who helped cook the books of the South Sea Company, fled England and landed in an Antwerp prison for a time.
—Jon Hilsenrath, WSJ, 7 May 2021
Saddled with insurmountable debt, Elder Seidel pressured Hicks to cook the books.
—Matt Cabral, EW.com, 3 Aug. 2020
Craig Hooper, Forbes, 2 Apr. 2023
Finally, at the core of Cuomo’s misbehavior is the arrogance of power, which was also evident in his efforts to cook the books on nursing-home deaths that resulted from his reckless COVID-19 policies.
—The Editors, National Review, 3 Aug. 2021
That included Robert Knight, who helped cook the books of the South Sea Company, fled England and landed in an Antwerp prison for a time.
—Jon Hilsenrath, WSJ, 7 May 2021
Saddled with insurmountable debt, Elder Seidel pressured Hicks to cook the books.
—Matt Cabral, EW.com, 3 Aug. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cook the books.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near cook the books
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“Cook the books.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cook%20the%20books. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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