How to cheat with charts
There is an old story about an accountant who, when asked how do the figures look? whispered confidentially ‘how do you want them to look?’ Here are a few examples of how charts can be used and abused. They are based on the monthly salaries of an office cleaner (the dotted lines) and an accountant (the solid lines).
| The beanie races ahead | |
|
| The cleaner has read this book in your office in the evenings and produces this plot of actual pay to support a claim for a pay rise. |
| The beanie is losing the lead | |
|
| Your wily accountant ... |
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