Empirical proxies for accruals-based earnings management abound in accounting research. Researchers use these proxies to measure diverse managerial and corporate activities that represent fundamentally different constructs, from beneficial earnings management (e.g., income smoothing) to earnings manipulation.

Associate Dr. Adrienna Huffman has coauthored an article, “Accruals Earnings Management Proxies: Prudent Business Decisions or Earnings Manipulation?” in the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting. The article presents a simple framework that defines the specific construct of “earnings manipulation” and places it within the context of the broader concept of “earnings management.” The authors also propose two simple empirical solutions that researchers can implement to capture the construct of earnings manipulation.

The full article can be found below (behind paywall).

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