Substance over form

Substance over form means that sometimes things might look really different on the outside, but they are actually the same on the inside. Imagine if you had two blocks of cheese that looked completely different - one was round and yellow and the other was square and orange. But if you tasted them, they might actually taste exactly the same! That's because the substance or what's inside is more important than the form or what it looks like on the outside.

In the grown-up world, substance over form is used to make sure that people aren't fooled by how something looks. If a company wants to follow the rules of substance over form, it means that they have to make sure they are being honest about what's really happening. For example, a company might have a lot of money on paper, but if they are actually losing money in real life, they can't just pretend like everything is okay. That's because the substance or the truth of the situation is more important than the form or what they say on paper.

So, basically, it's like saying that what's inside is more important than what's outside. That way, everyone can be sure that things are fair and honest.