[teaearlgraycold]

The closest a report like this could be to "incorrect" is poorly planned short-term/long-term tradeoffs. You could, for example, renew an expensive contract with a vendor for a 1 year term instead of 5 years at a lower annual price. This quarter's costs will go down significantly compared to the last time this contract was up for renewal - but now you need to add the same cost to your ledger next year instead of 5 years down the line. Repeat that same short-sighted planning many times over and it's possible to fabricate a profit increase. But that will only last so long. It could work for people prepping for an IPO when they plan to essentially pump-and-dump. Not so much for a mature public company.