earnings management Definition

Manipulation of a company's financial earnings either directly or through indirect accounting methods. This is more likely to occur when a company habitually is unable to meet investor expectations or in periods of volatile earnings. Earnings management is often considered materially misleading and thus a fraudulent activity. Even though the changes may follow all of the accounting standards and laws, they may go against what the standards and laws were originally trying to establish. For example, a change from FIFO to LIFO in inventory management may help a company's financial ratios, but may not reflect the true value of its inventory. See creative accounting.