But my point upthread is that that "difference" is a post hoc rationalization. She needed to close that deal to save the company, in which she presumably believed. The money would change everything, right? She probably did picture this as "faking until they made it".

PG "got caught" at a moment when Yahoo (the acquirer, I think?) had already decided on a deal it valued and was willing to deal with some accounting mess to close it. Javice got caught by an investment bank with rather different ideas about value who perceived the "accounting mess" as active fraud.

In a culture (this culture!) where everyone cheats, the actors lose sight of how to judge what cheating is acceptable.