China's state banks have long been accused of benefiting from low deposit rates, which helps to inflate their profits.

WSJ: China to Make State Firms Turn Over More Profits

Federal indictments handed down on Mar. 13 accuse former chief executive Carl Putnam, onetime chief financial officer Donald Welchko and four others of engaging in a scheme to inflate sales and profits that led to Anicom's bankruptcy two years ago.

FORBES: Follow-Through

The same thinking that spurs once-innovative American companies to slash research and investment in order to inflate short-term profits.

FORBES: Are Twinkies a Strategic Snack Food?

Vehicles exported from Japan will tend to have higher margins since the expenses will be incurred in yen, but the overseas profits will inflate when translated back to yen.

FORBES: Weaker Yen And U.S. Sales Will Fuel Honda's Earnings

Ms Watkins was not slow to blame former Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling and chief finance officer Andrew Fastow as the villains of the piece, who deliberately sought by false accounting to inflate Enron's profits and conceal its losses.

BBC: At the Enron hearings

Organisers wanted to protect their industry, saying they could just inflate prices if they wanted to boost profits.

BBC: Led Zeppelin at the O2 arena