kitchen sinking
noun; informal, business and relationship jargon

- releasing extensive information about poor company results at once, hoping to reduce its impact

- including every possible piece of bad news in one announcement, usually for strategic reasons

- introducing numerous old or unrelated complaints into a current argument

Oxford English Dictionary, Collins New Word Suggestion, Wiktionary 

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The noun kitchen-sinking is recorded from 1975, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It combines the English compound kitchen sink with -ing, which turns an action into a noun.

Its imagery comes from everything but the kitchen sink: virtually everything imaginable. The expression was used in Second World War forces’ slang for an intense bombardment. Eric Partridge documented it in his 1948 Dictionary of Forces’ Slang: even the kitchen sink—the most unlikely domestic object—seemed to have been thrown at the enemy.

Kitchen sinking later moved into arguments, where every available grievance is thrown in, and into business reporting, where all the bad news appears together. The exact date of that financial development is uncertain. Curiously, the noun appeared before to kitchen sink was recorded as a verb. 

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THE CONVENIENT STARTING LINE

A runner can look fast if somebody quietly moves the starting line backwards. Corporate performance can be framed in much the same way.

When a new chief executive arrives, the first reporting period is unusual. Investors know that many decisions were inherited, while the newcomer has had little time to influence sales, costs or strategy. That creates a brief window in which poor figures may stick to the predecessor more readily than to the new boss.

Accounting researchers call the related practice a “big bath”. Studies have documented incoming chief executives increasing discretionary expenses during their first year. The apparent paradox is that making the present look worse can make the future look better.

Some accounting decisions shift reported earnings between periods without altering the underlying economic performance. A reduction now may therefore reappear as stronger earnings later. Research also suggests that career considerations can encourage managers to shift earnings towards the period in which their own ability will be judged more clearly. 

The trick works partly through comparison. Future results aren’t judged in a vacuum: they’re measured against the gloomy starting point. A modest recovery can then resemble an impressive turnaround.

Yet an ugly first year isn’t proof of manipulation. New management may simply be recognising problems that the old team postponed.

Kitchen sinking turns the baseline itself into part of the performance.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

big bath accounting, earnings bath, KITCHEN SINKING, taking a big bath

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today. Say something like:

“The new chief executive may be KITCHEN SINKING, so let’s not mistake next year’s improvement for a miracle.”

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