Variables: Can Accounting Data Be Used to Detect Earnings Manipulation? If financial state-ment manipulations encompass not only earnings but also other signals that investors and analysts rely on, then the discriminatory power of accounting
data is diminished, the results of this study are biased against rejection of a null hypothesis on the variables’ coefficients, and the usefulness of accounting information for detecting earnings manipulation is limited. Inthe absence of an eco-nomic theory of manipulation, I relied on three sources for choosing explanatory variables based on