How to “cook your books” — a recipe for disaster

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to stimulate thought on creative accounting through a unique prose. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a fictional poem. Findings – The paper finds that, like baking a recipe, creative accounting involves essential ingredients and a method. Identifies how the language and process of creative accounting, however precise it may be, can mirror that of the creative art of cooking. Research limitations/implications – The paper encourages a broader artistic and narrative expression in the field of accounting by drawing on alternate textual formats. Originality/value – The paper shows that, as far as the author is aware, no other work in accounting has been expressed this way as a recipe. Consequently, it is a unique contribution to the discipline.