Costs are Costs ? REALLY?The way a company prepares financial statements is not neccedssarily consistent with the appraoch other companies use. GAAP, IFRS or ASPE are acceptable accounting standards that are commonly used globally..
This does lead to differences in interpreting financail results if you are attempting 'across the board comparisons' --e.g. expenses or revenue recognition. Therefore, using one of these approaches is not a case of 'creative accounting'. Analysts understand their are differences and try to adjust their analysis in order to compare 'apples to apples' - a bit time consuming and this exercise.
Before accusing companies of 'reative accounting' make sure you know what you are talking about - another example of .....