The unauthorised trading was concealed by a number of devices. These included the
suppression of account '88888' from Barings in London (which account was mentioned only
in the margin files and did not attract the attention of Barings in London); the submission of
falsified reports to London; the misrepresentation of the profitability of BFS's trading; and a
number of false trading transactions and accounting entries. The internal account No. 88888
had been opened up as long ago as 1992, which raises the question of who was responsible
for reconciling suspense accounts, and why did neither the internal nor external auditors
pick up on this during their regular audits