Financial Statement Analysis

When considering the ethical issues within an organization, its vendors, and the billing cycle. While there may be expected and set dates for payment, that does not mean payments will be on time, if an organization is big enough, they may be able to manipulate things to make late payments to not effect the financial statements for a given quarter or financial period. By doing so, they may make their numbers look better to the board and possible investors. What are the legal ramifications?