Cook the books 字面意思是“煮书”，其实是比喻做假账来欺骗他人。

例句

The police arrested John today. He's suspected of cooking the books.

The auditors found that the fast food chain has been cooking the books for years.

请注意

另一个含有“cook 煮饭”一词的成语是 cook up something，意思是谋划什么事情。

例句

I would like to get my hands on whoever cooked up this scheme - it’s all fake.

Please don’t try to cook up an excuse for being late.