An Investigation of Earnings Management Practices : Examining Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

Earnings management is the act of intentional manipulation of the corporate financial data with the intent to achieve a specific objective. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of business professionals about specific cases of earnings management practices and evaluate the impact of such practices on the public's perceptions. The data for this research was collected by using a questionnaire developed by starting with the examples of earnings management practices noted by auditors and expanding on that using the work of previous researchers. The results of this research add to the existing body of knowledge by identifying management's decisions that might be well within generally acceptable accounting principles and yet considered unacceptable by the public or business professionals