Proverbs 11:1, 3, 5-6
The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight. The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. The LORD detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless.
In the 1990's it became a standard practice for companies on Wall Street to announce how much money you thought your company was going earn. The catch is that once you predict how your company was going to do, the pressure is on to make sure you reach your projection or at least appear to reach your projection or your stock price might suffer. Trapped in their own invention, many companies tried to manipulate their stock price by hiding debt or claiming accounts receivable as cash in the bank in order to look like they met expectations. After the market crashed under the duplicity of Enron, WorldCom and the like, many blamed corporate guidance for corporate failures. The real culprit was individual greed. The instinct to "cook" the books to make things look better than they really are has led many astray.
To read more on corporate guidance: http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2007/06/18/an_end_to_corporate_guidance_c/#ixzz0fHtEyHIQ
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