A practice of using alternative, usually permitted, methods and approaches to accounting for manipulation of accounting figures in order to transform them in a desired way. Examples include the creation of special accounts to which transactions can be relegated so as to appear as off-balance-sheet items, or selling assets and leasing them back, thus exchanging present receipts from the sale for future liabilities in the rentals payable. Creative accounting may be used in shifting receipts between apparent income and apparent capital gains, if these are subject to different tax rates or rules.