Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Accounting
College
College of Business
First Advisor
Karen Maguire
Abstract/Description
The main objective of this paper is to provide a review on why companies use earnings management and the benefits and consequences as a result. There is a large grey area between aggressive accounting and outright fraud and this paper focuses on narrowing down that area so companies know when to stop. General Electric is an example of a company that used earnings management to its advantage because they used it cautiously. However, there is the other side where earnings management started off small and ended up spiraling out of control like with Enron. This paper will examine both how Enron crossed the line into fraud which resulted in the largest U.S. bankruptcy at the time, as well as General Electric’s rather favorable experience with earnings management (Magrath and Weld 2002).
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Robertson, Brett, "Enron vs. General Electric: Is Earnings Management Worth the Risk?" (2010). Honors Theses. 139.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/honors-theses/139