/Manipulating the Numbers Background Relying on aggressive accounting assumptions has been one of the approaches through which, companies make there financial information to appear less volatile. There are various earnings management techniques employed by companies to match earnings with losses, and this is meant to enhance the reported numbers. Even though, manipulating numbers might not necessarily be fraud it is unethical and potentially misleading to users of financial information. In the case of Tyco international, the management relied on practises that did not appear suspect at first, but they were in a position to manipulate the accounting practices