To cook the books informal verb phrase
Cooking the books is something you should never do.
Many accountants were arrested for cooking the books.
To become better
Try to avoid to change something because doing something else could make things worse
White lie
Seem to be very suspicious or morally unacceptable
Used to imply that someone is acting as if he or she is demure, innocent, sincere or reserved but they may be not
The verb "cook" should be conjugated according to its tense.
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The idiom derived from the mid-17th century. It is related to how ingredients are changed, altered and improved when you cook. In that way, financial statements can also be so adjusted to benefit the cook.