That is so true. But the Profit and Loss account is easily...

That is so true.

But the Profit and Loss account is easily manipulated.

My departed brother was an accountant and auditor and he told me early in life that the iron-clad accounts check is to go out the back and see if you can find all the assets that are listed in the balance sheet and then see if you agree with the values.

A couple of classic contra examples have been

Parmalat $3b on deposit with Citicorp. Wasn't there !!!

Sammy's seafood $600k stock, the cold room was empty!!!

The infamous Hong Kong futures trader who hid all his losses in a false balance sheet account and bought the bank down!!!

There are many more.

Stock and work in progress are often empty logs that prop up unrealistic profits to keep people in their jobs.

I like to invest in good assets that I can touch and feel and am reasonably confident that the company really owns them.