For a variety of reasons, some businesses attempt to "manage" their reported assets, liabilities, revenues, expenses, or income. You can search the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Business Week or other financial/business periodicals for articles on the subject. Do not search scholarly journals, as the articles will typically be unnecessarily lengthy and complex. In a minimum of three and maximum of 5 typed (double spaced, 12 point type) pages summarize what the company did, why they did it, what reported financial numbers were affected, and the dollar amount by which the reported numbers were affected.