Our results suggest that, for firms that would miss consensus earnings forecasts
in the absence of ETR changes, higher tax service fees paid to auditors are
associated with greater reductions in ETRs between the third and fourth quarters.
Our findings also indicate that, among firms that do not purchase tax services from
their auditors, companies that would miss their earnings forecasts absent ETR
changes also experience greater third-to-fourth-quarter reductions in ETRs than
companies that would otherwise meet or beat these estimates. We continue to find
support for the earnings management explanation for decreases in ETRs between
the third and fourth quarters established by DGM 2004. These results are robust to
the inclusion of other common earnings management variables, including total and
discretionary accruals and deferred taxes