Firms often change their operating policy to meet a short-term financial reporting target. Accounting researchers call such an opportunistic action real earnings management (REM). They measure REM by the difference between a firm's costs and those reported by its industry peers. Firms that...

We propose a new method to estimate intangible investment outlays, other than expenditures on advertising and research and development, that are reported on a commingled basis with operating expenses in the selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) category of expenses. These outlays, aimed at...