We conduct two experiments to examine the joint effect of two justification factors of earnings management, namely attribution for the firm’s underperformance and benefits accruing to other employees from inflating reported earnings. In the main experiment, we predict and find that managers...

We conduct two experiments to investigate the joint effect of two justification factors of earnings management—namely, attribution for the firm’s underperformance and benefits accruing to other employees from inflating reported earnings. This investigation is important because prior research...

Managers sometimes implement accounting standards (such as the lease standard) opportunistically to move debt off balance-sheet. Regulators and standard setters are considering the adoption of principles-based accounting standards to reduce such opportunism. We report the results of an...

Managers sometimes implement accounting standards (such as the lease standard) opportunistically to move debt off balance-sheet. Regulators and standard setters are considering the adoption of principles-based accounting standards to reduce such opportunism. However, there are lingering concerns...