By the time this column appears a new crop of scandals will confront a world increasingly inured to the daily shocks that strike on every front, accounting included.

As I write, following concerns raised by a whistleblower, Tesco has owned up to a quarter-billion pound overstatement of profit in its half-year unaudited results, triggering a £3bn slide in its stock market value. Not a fraud, not an error; just a matter of accounting creativity taken a notch too far.

Even the three major rating agencies have put Tesco ‘on watch’ for a credit downgrade as ‘aggressive’ in the face of weakening margins and fierce competition.

 As a cynic might ask, why bother to sell food at a profit when you can make it up from supplier ‘rebates’?

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