Examine an annual financial statement from a publicly traded company. You have just joined this company as the manager of the accounting department and a senior vice president asks you to adjust figures on their balance sheet based on new information listed here:

• Increase cash by 5%
• Decrease current liabilities by 5%

You are concerned that the new data may be designed to misrepresent the true financial situation.

Considering the calculations from the original data and your newly calculated ratios

• Debt to equity ratio
• Current ratio
• Cash ratio
• Debt to capital ratio
• Interest coverage ratio

how does this new information change the data? Do you feel making these adjustments is a misrepresentation of data or a violation of ethics? Why or why not?