Corporate Earnings: Facts and Fiction
调查了经理人操纵盈利的实证记录、主要目标和手段，指出盈利计算依赖大量估计和主观判断是操纵的主要来源，并提出通过要求经理人将关键估计与实际结果对比并修正偏差来遏制操纵。
Manipulated earnings played a central role in the slew of corporate scandals which surfaced during the last three years. This article focuses on the vulnerability of earnings to manipulation by managers: it surveys the empirical record of manipulation, their major objectives, and the means of manipulation. It then focuses on the major source of earnings manipulation--the multitude of estimates and subjective judgments underlying the comutation of earnings. The article accordingly concludes with a proposal to curb manipulation by requiring managers to routinely compare key estimates with ex post realizations, and revise earnings in case of large deviations.