The good faith rule is that the club "in all matters and transactions relating to the League, each club shall behave towards (....) the League with the utmost good faith".
While it may be true that the club complied with the literal wording of E3, E4, E11, E12, and E51 (for 2017/8, for example) the combination of the alleged good faith breach and those rules means that club in the matters required by E3, E4, E11, E12 and E51(the club didn't file accounts in good faith, didn't provide an audit report in good faith, didn't provide future financial information in good faith etc.), so each of those rules was also breached.
If it helps us move on, I think the difference maybe with the Leicester case is that the panel and the appeal both said Leicester were within their rights to change year end, so there was no indication of bad faith, but with City, the whole case is premised on bad faith and deception.
for instance these are the rules pre 2014
"Each Club shall by 1st March in each Season submit to the Secretary a copy of its annual accounts in respect of its most recent financial year or if the Club considers it appropriate or the Secretary so requests the Group Accounts of the Group of which it is a member (in either case such accounts to be prepared and audited in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements) together with a copy of the directors’ report for that year and a copy of the auditors’ report on those accounts."
" include separate disclosure within the balance sheet or notes to the accounts, or by way of supplementary information separately reported on by its auditors by way of procedures specified by the Board, of the total sums payable and receivable in respect of Compensation Fees, Contingent Sums and Loan Fees; 79.2 include a breakdown within the profit and loss account or the notes to the accounts, or by way of supplementary information separately reported on by its auditors by way of procedures specified by the Board, of revenue in appropriate categories such as gate receipts, sponsorship and advertising, broadcasting rights, commercial income and other income."
"
By 31st March in each Season, each Club shall submit to the Secretary in respect of itself (or if the Club considers it appropriate or the Secretary so requests in respect of the Group of which it is a member) future financial information (“Future Financial Information”) comprising projected profit and loss accounts, cash flow, balance sheets and relevant explanatory notes commencing from its accounting reference date or, if it has submitted interim accounts pursuant to Rule C.81, from the date to which those interim accounts were prepared and expiring on the next accounting reference date after the end of the following Season. The projected profit and loss accounts, cash flow and balance sheets shall be prepared at a maximum of six-monthly intervals.
"
"
87. The Future Financial Information shall:
87.1 be prepared in accordance with the accounting principles adopted in the preparation of
the Club’s annual accounts (except where the accounting principles and policies are to
be changed in the subsequent annual accounts, in which case the new accounting
principles and polices should be followed);
87.2 be approved in writing by the board of directors of the company to which they relate;
and
87.3 to include in the explanatory notes thereto principal assumptions and risks; and
87.4 include for comparison profit and loss accounts for the period covered by the annual
accounts and interim accounts submitted pursuant to Rules C.78 and C.81, a forecast
for the current financial year and a balance sheet as at the date of the interim accounts
submitted pursuant to Rule C.81
"
all of these are hard and fast rules we either handed them in on time or we didn't there's no other way of defining the rule. If the accounts were audited then that is all that is required to pass the rules. There's no term for accuracy or good faith. These were introduced when they realised they were struggling to stop us.