1974年，美國財務會計準則委員會（FASB）基於提升會計報表透明化的原則之下，宣佈2號財務會計準則(SFAS No.2)規範公司將大多數的R&D支出認列為費用。然而，因為SFAS No.2會計準則的規範，公司認列的費用支出大幅的提升，造成盈餘大幅的下滑。因此，許多的學者便開始擔心R&D預算會淪為經理人用來操弄短期盈餘的工具之一。事實上，從過去的實證研究中我們發現，經理人確實會為了個人的利益或是為了達到財務分析師的預期等種種因素，刪減R&D的支出來提高微幅下降的短期盈餘。

　　有鑒於過去文獻指出經理人的確會透過刪減R&D預算來操弄短期的盈餘，本研究想進一步探討此種透過刪減R&D費用的盈餘管理是否會傷害到公司根本的價值？然而，根據過去的文獻指出，一家公司價值的提升和獲利的提高，端賴這家公司是否擁有高度的生產力，因此，本研究採用生產力作為公司根本的價值，然後衡量藉由刪減R&D費用的盈餘管理和生產力之間的關係。回顧過去的文獻，先前學者的研究結果大多指出有盈餘管理的公司，通常股價反應和營運績效都會變得較糟。所以，本研究預期當公司刪除R&D預算來提高短期盈餘時，相較於其他沒有操弄管理的公司，應該會有較低的生產力。

　　最後，本研究的實證結果顯示，當公司年度的盈餘如果微幅小於去年度的盈餘，經理人很有可能會大大的削減R&D支出，然而R&D削減和生產力之間存在著顯著負相關，因此導致公司的生產力大幅下滑且效率嚴重低於其他公司.故本研究證實了經理人為了某些特定的目的削減R&D預算來調整當年度盈餘的話，將會造成公司效率的降低，生產力大幅的下滑。再者，就如同先前的文獻所述，本研究結果也證實了不論經理人透過何種方式來從事盈餘管理，都將會傷害公司的價值，進而降低股東的利益。

　After SFAS 2 requires firms to expense their R&D expenditure, some academics consider that R&D budgets would become one tool that managers would use to manage short-term earnings upward to meet the expectations of analysts and shareholders. In fact, many empirical studies have provided evidence to support that managers cut R&D to turn small decrease earnings upward. Accordingly, this paper extends previous research and investigates if firms cut discretionary R&D expenditures to boost current earnings performance, would its fundamental value－productivity－be damage? Most previous researches find that earnings manipulate would damage operational performance and stock returns; consequently, I hypnotizes that the firms which manipulate earnings upward by R&D budget decrease would have worse productivity than other firms.

　Finally, in this paper, the empirical results suggest that the firms with small decrease earnings would cut R&D expenditure more seriously, consistent with the evidence provided by Baber, Fairfield and Haggard (1991) and Bushee (1998). Moreover, this paper also confirms that the association between R&D cut and productivity is significantly negative so that make the firms with small decrease earnings become less productive and more inefficient relative to other firms. The evidence suggests that if managers slash R&D budget so as to turn current earnings upward, the myopic behavior would indeed cause fundamental value－productivity injured grievously.

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