The sample is obtained from SABI database, covers the period1996–2007, and is composed of 11,102 firm-year observations forconstruction firms (Codigo Nacional de Actividades EconómicasCNAE 45) and 4522 firm-year observations for real estate firms(CNAE 70) (Table 1).During this period, there was never negative growth in GDP. Theyear 1996 was the one with the lowest growth (GDP: 2.4%) (Fig. 1).Construction activity behaved differently. The last recession tookplace from 1991 to 1996, which was followed by an upswing period(Rodríguez, 2006). This bonanza period included real growth ratesin housing prices around 15%. Therefore, this paper covers threekey moments:- The final year of a crisis period (1996).- An upswing period, including a speculative bubble.- The beginning of the current crisis (2007).3.2. Earnings management variablesIn order to study the existence of and trends in earnings man-agement, we use the discretionary accruals methodology and,following Roychowdhury (2006), we also estimate “real earningsmanagement”.