This paper presents a model to distinguish manipulated from non-manipulated reporting. I define earnings manipulation as an instance where management violates Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in order to beneficially represent the firm’s financial performance. I use financial statement data to construct variables that seek to capture the effects of manipulation and preconditions that may prompt firms to engage in such activity. Since manipulation typically consists of an artificial inflation of revenues or deflation of expenses, I find that variables that take into account the simultaneous bloating in asset accounts have predictive content. I also find that sales growth has discriminatory power since the primary characteristic of sample manipulators is that they have high growth prior to periods during which manipulation is in force.