You have risen fast in Lam Tin Industries and are now in charge of purchasing for the entire company. Lam Tin is a privately held company, and negotiations are currently under way for Lam Tin to be acquired by Kwun Tong Company, a large publicly held firm. It is December, and the final negotiations with Kwun Tong, including the setting of the purchase price, will take place in February after the release of Lam Tin’s audited financial statements for the year ended December 31. You are puzzling over a strange request you received earlier today from Lam Tin’s vice president of finance. She visited your office and asked you to delay your normal December inventory purchases until the first week in January. You explained that this would result in a reduction of year-end inventories to less than half their normal yearend level. The vice president of finance seemed pleased with this information when she left your office. This request seemed fishy, and you pulled out your copy of Lam Tin’s annual report to check a hunch. Just as you suspected, Lam Tin has been using LIFO for many years and has built up a large LIFO reserve. If you delay the December purchases until January, Lam Tin will liquidate a large portion of its old LIFO layers, resulting in a big increase in reported profit for the year. It is possible that this artificial boost in Lam Tin’s profits might increase the price offered by Kwun Tong in the purchase of Lam Tin. Should you talk over your suspicions with the vice president of finance? With Lam Tin’s independent auditors? With the negotiation team from Kwun Tong? Explain.