Beasley and Hermanson (2004,
p. 12) note that under these present conditions ‘‘top
managers and other employees can rationalize certain
questionable behaviors that subsequently escalate
into outright fraud.’’ They cite a number of
‘‘gray zone’’ behaviors that are ‘‘not completely
acceptable, but not clearly inappropriate’’ that range
from boosting revenues through special payment
terms to ‘‘pressuring customers to accept orders
before the end of an accounting period, bill and hold
schemes, private side agreements, and even booking
revenues that do not exist (Beasley and Hermanson,
2004, p. 12)’’