What’s Your Project’s Real Price Tag?

There are many ways executives can cook the books, some legal, some not. The illegal ways are becoming less attractive, thanks to recent attention from Congress, the SEC, and other regulatory bodies. But there is a way some executives put a spin on company performance that is no less dangerous for being legal: They endorse, even encourage, optimistic forecasts on major long-term capital projects. We’re talking about big projects like building new factories, implementing IT outsourcing, or decommissioning nuclear reactors—projects that can depress the bottom line for years if they run late or seriously over budget.