I don't know about what's legally allowed or not. (Might also depend on jurisdiction.)
From what I remember, in general you have to recognize outlays with certainty, but you have more leeway in how you treat inflows.
In general, you can also keep whatever you want in your books and run them however you like; you just have a legal obligation to also keep accounts that are in line with established standards.
You see this distinction in GAAP vs non-GAAP numbers in the US, where GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
In banking there's an obligation to model counterparty risk; but I have to assume that banks keep multiple copies of their balance sheets and accounts around:
One version for eg tax purposes, and another version for things like determining capital requirements and risk exposure; if different rules apply in the different domains.
From what I remember, in general you have to recognize outlays with certainty, but you have more leeway in how you treat inflows.
In general, you can also keep whatever you want in your books and run them however you like; you just have a legal obligation to also keep accounts that are in line with established standards.
You see this distinction in GAAP vs non-GAAP numbers in the US, where GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
In banking there's an obligation to model counterparty risk; but I have to assume that banks keep multiple copies of their balance sheets and accounts around:
One version for eg tax purposes, and another version for things like determining capital requirements and risk exposure; if different rules apply in the different domains.