investors' uncertainty about managers' incentives and reporting objectives. Employing a difference-in-differences design and …

behaviour on executive compensation conditioned on managerial ability. We find that managers with better abilities are … part of superior managers’ skills and should be incorporated in their reward contracts. The results show that managerial …

quality managers manipulate earnings via accruals rather than more costly real earnings management. As a result, competition … amplifies accrual earnings management by superior managers, but does not result in greater amounts of real earnings management …. This reaction to the pressure of competition reflects the optimal contracting between firms and more able managers that …

compensation contracts, managers who maximize lifetime compensation in a perfectly competitive labor market would have little … the hypotheses that younger managers engage in less accruals based and real earnings management than older CEOs, even … associated with earnings management. We also find evidence that younger managers choose the “lesser of two evils” by managing …

compensation contracts, managers who maximize lifetime compensation in a perfectly competitive labor market would have little … the hypotheses that younger managers engage in less accruals based and real earnings management than older CEOs, even … associated with earnings management. We also find evidence that younger managers choose the “lesser of two evils” by managing …