Using the comparative international accounting history approach advocated by Carnegie and Napier
(2002), this study compares US and Italian earnings management (EM) literature published in the second
half of the twentieth century and identifies the main similarities and differences in the research topics and
methodologies. The historical comparison finds that although Italian and US contributions to EM literature
grew in notably different contexts and research settings, they both recognized the issue of EM, agreed on
its origins and shared some research topics. However, the two bodies of literature differed in respect of the
research topics addressed and research methodologies adopted to analyse the EM issue. The discussion of
these results provides also initial evidence of areas of potential contribution to the international debate on
EM through cross-fertilization. The analysis demonstrates the fundamental role of comparative international
accounting history in uncovering the potential contributions of national literatures to the development of
accounting research at a genuinely international level. It also contributes to EM literature by bringing to
international attention fifty years of Italian EM research that was previously unknown beyond Italian borders.
↧