In the late 1990s, Dutch accounting principles allowed companies to charge off against stockholders' equity goodwill arising from the acquired to another company. Under U.S. GAAP at the time, companies were required to report goodwill opportunity for dishonest employees to overstate those for accounting purposes, which is exactly what occurred beginning in the last 1990s. When Royal Ahold acquired U.S. Foodservice in 2000, the improper accounting for promotional allowances escalated. Apparently, many U.S. Foodservice managers began overstating promotional allowances to ensure that their operating units reached the challenging earnings goals assigned to them by Royal Ahold.