In some industries, companies bill jobs on a "cost plus profit" basis. This creates an incentive for companies to pad their bills--overstate the costs incurred on particular jobs so as to inflate their bills.
Suppliers to the government have often been accused of overbilling by misstating their cost accounting records.
What feature of these businesses creates an incentive to misstate cost accounting data on particular jobs?
What can customers do to protect themselves from overbilling?