However, managing earnings through big bath charges follows a different, yet simple, line of reasoning be-cause earnings are made to look worse, at least in the current period. Henry and Schmitt (2001) note that a company will take a large non-recurring loss one year, typically when its profits are already depressed, so that future earnings are not burdened. The result is either increased future earnings or reduced variability of future earnings. The notion is that, when things are already bad (i.e., depressed earnings), making them worse by clearing out the rubbish does little harm to the company’s or management’s reputations. The market punishes a firm relatively the same whether it misses its earnings mark by a little or by a lot.