I define accruals as the difference between
reported earnings and cash flows from operations. The accrual tests compare
the actual sign of accruals for a particular company and year with the
predicted sign given the managers' bonus incentives. The results are consistent
with the theory. I also test whether accruals differ for companies with different
bonus plan formats. The accrual differences provide further evidence of a
relation between managers' accrual decisions and their income-reporting incentives
under the bonus plan