Financial reporting is not as straightforward as it may at first appear. Company management must make assumptions about expense accruals, revenues, asset valuation and future tax liabilities. According to Scott & O’Brien (p. 447) earnings management can be considered from, “a financial reporting and contracting perspective.” In terms of financial reporting, management teams may be motivated to report earnings that meet the expectations of analysts and investors. Review the required and optional readings for the fourth period. In your first discussion post discuss your view of earnings management. You may address any of the core issues brought up in the articles. In addition, in your first post, be sure to address the underlying integrity issue associated with management reporting results to owners and stakeholders of the firm. In your response posts be sure to use at least one additional academic citation on the topic of the earnings management (papers published in the last ten years will be most interesting).
All dialogues should follow the Doctoral Business Dialogue Guidelines, posted on Canvas. The guidelines indicxate each post should be between 250 and 300 words, excluding references. The guidelines also note only posts made during the two-week period will be graded.