.... Dieter Faculty Fellow at University of Massachusetts Amherst. The authors of this publication have no conflicts of interest related to this research. 2025 earnings management real activities management ethics survey research experimental research operating distortion reporting distortion...

... through R&D management is used to inform investors because R&D management is relatively more difficult to detect and curb. We find that R&D management, which represents a subset of real activities management, is associated with more informative earnings, but the association is weaker relative...