Are there more accounting scandals nowadays than before, or are we simply living in a time
when they have become more apparent? - this question was raised by Dyson (2004) in his
brilliant book Accounting for Non-Accounting Students. Addressing primarily managers, but
also all others who have interest in familiarizing themselves with the financial state of a
company, he identified several causes that can get accounting into trouble today. First, the
New Economy, whose driving force is new information and communication technologies
(ICTs), brings new types of products and services which conventional accounting
techniques do not know or are not compatible with; secondl, pressures of competitors force
growth as an imperative of success, and a company has to be made as attractive to
investors as possible, forcing executives to overstate company revenues; thirdl, flexibility of
accounting standards sometimes gets both managers and accountants involved in
suspicious transactions.