I beg to differ since I spent my entire carrier in the business that Halliburton is in. In the 80's the vast majority of EPC contracts were "cost plus" and yes the client was supposed to absorb the over runs but usually after they were forced to in court. In the late 80's fixed cost projects became the norm but over run charges were written into the contracts as "contingency fees". All overrun claims were considered accounts receivable, unless challenged by the client, and legitimate earnings . In the cases that there were disagreements as to the amount of money being billed for overruns or schedule penalties or incentives the challenged costs were "off the books" until the negotiations were completed. Every project, most by Halliburton, were mega petrochemical complexes with multi-year schedules and strict payment schedules and conditions. At any given time Halliburton had in excess of 20 billion dollars in procurement activities on as many as 100 major projects around the world. In many cases, to meet schedule incentives, it would use its own money to purchase schedule sensitive material and equipment and then bill the client later. There is absolutely NOTHING that Halliburton did that was illegal, immoral, or unethical.