Most individuals would regard behaviors to enhance an opportunity to receive a positiveperformance evaluation, pecuniary reward, or organizational acclaim and recognition asunethical. Many compensation experts believe that organizations can eliminate incentives tomanipulate budgets or quotas and/or manage earnings only if managerial incentive contracts donot include accounting measures. Some commentators consider earnings management to be oneof the most important ethics issues facing the accounting profession today. Individuals, however,may judge the practice as ethical or unethical depending on the action--although some peopleregard earnings management as unethical in all situations, regardless of intent.