We first analyze an agency model in which the firm must provide incentives to the
manager to identify and evaluate tax-reporting positions, and then use the information in
the way that the firm prefers. This requires a delicate balancing of incentives, so that the
manager both works and takes the reporting positions that the firm would prefer if it had
the information. We find that the optimal use of contemporaneous financial accounting
measures of tax reporting enables the firm to motivate the manager to both engage in
costly effort and make the tax-reporting decision that the firm prefers, even though the
firm is not able to observe the manager’s actions