Has my whole life been a sham so my dad can cook the books at his store?

I think I saw this anime on Crunchyroll awhile back. The protagonist wants to do the right thing, but the pressure and emotional manipulation really puts him up against the wall.

The slightly insane but incredibly hot goth chick from his high school days shows up at his office and tries to tempt him to just make a few innocent adjustments to some year-end liabilities. It's a violation of revenue recognition, but it'll really push the companies valuation higher in advance on going public in 3 weeks.

Eventually the crazy goth chick is absorbed into the protagonist's increasingly ridiculous harem, but as an accountant he's completely oblivious to the idea of sex.

In a bizarre twist, the father figure disappears under suspicious circumstances leaving the young accountant as the recently minted figurehead of the growing company, and the prime target of the SEC after the audit of the company reveals years of suspect financials. The lead investigator on the case is a hardened grizzled man, but he has a heart of gold and a determination to right the world's audit wrongs.

The answer to your question, much like many of the other big questions you face in life, lies somewhere between the truth, and your expectations of the truth.

One of the largest paradigm shifts you will go through is when you realize the disparity between the two.

What do you mean “cook the books”? This is standard practice in public accounting—do whatever the client says and cash in! Management is responsible for the fair presentation of financial statements. It’s not an audit, so there’s no due diligence.

(Partly joking)

pansexual cruise

Aka a "love Shaq"

I once had a discussion with an early mentor of mine about the subject of making things up for client's tax returns. I was interning at KPMG and we most certainly were not fudging anything. Nonetheless, I asked him about the temptation to cook the books and save on taxes. His advice was simple: it's much better to fly straight and be able to rest your head on the pillow at night, knowing you have nothing to worry about.

My friends and family who I have helped with taxes thru the years have always known that if they come to me, they will get an accurate accounting of their income. The advice of my mentor applies to them as well. They can rest easy knowing that some years old lie isn't going to come back to haunt them either.

My advice is to establish a line in the sand for yourself and make all of your clients (family or otherwise) aware of it.