This paper presents an experiential learning case designed to give students a comprehensive view of earnings management. Student teams are given a common set of transactions and are asked to prepare financial statements. The amounts for some of the transactions are generated from rolls of the dice so that each team’s financials are unique. The teams are required to prepare two sets of financial statements. In the first set, the teams prepare financial statements using the most conservativeassumptionsunderGAAP.Inthesecondset,theteamsemployearnings management techniques to increase their profit to meet analysts’ expectations. The teams are required to present their second set of financials to the class, and the competing teams are challenged to uncover the presenting team’s earnings management practices. In essays written after completing the case, students indicate they gained a deeper understanding of the harmful effect of earnings management.
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