Relying on previous research that has identified the manipulation of working capital accruals as a common method of earnings management (e.g. DeFond and Jiambalvo, 1994), we identify two proxies for the ex ante costs of earnings management. Firms with high levels of current assets and current liabilities before the earnings manipulation are likely to find it relatively less costly to manage earnings through changes in working capital than firms with low levels of current assets and current liabilities. For example, a firm which has high levels of receivables is likely to find it less costly to manage earnings through changes in receivables. Firms that can manage earnings at low cost are more likely to manage earnings to move from negative pre-managed earnings to positive post-managed earnings. If the levels of current assets and current liabilities serve as proxies for the cost of earnings management through changes in working capital, we expect to find lower pre-managed levels of current assets and current liabilities for firms in the intervals immediately to the left of zero post-managed
earnings and higher levels in the intervals immediately to the right of zero.