To identify companies subject to accounting enforcement actions by the SEC, I used Accounting
and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) #132 through #502, issued from 1987 to 1993. After elim-ination of inappropriate companies from the 363 AAERs examined (#372 to #379 were not assigned by the SEC), this search yielded a final sample of 103 AAERs relating to 49 companies that violated GAAP.....2
An extensive media search on LEXIS-NEXIS for January 1987 to April 1993 identified 80 compa-nies mentioned in articles discussing earnings manipulation.3 After elimination of eight compa-nies that were also identified by the AAER search
and of other inappropriate companies from this search, the final sample from the new search was 40 companies.