本研究旨在探討當具有企業社會責任(CSR)的公司面臨到經濟利益與道德之間的衝突時，將使用何種程度的裁量權去達成盈餘門檻。具體來說，本研究透過檢測CSR公司是否會藉由從事實質盈餘管理來達成正盈餘門檻或前期盈餘門檻，並進一步觀察其對公司未來績效的影響，以捕捉公司對CSR活動是出自一種道德觀點還是工具觀點。
本研究使用KLD (Kinder Lydenberg Domini)分數來衡量公司參與企業社會責任的程度，並採用Gunny (2010)提出的四個實質操弄活動來衡量實質盈餘管理，包括：減少裁決性研發支出、減少裁決性銷管費用、操弄固定資產和長期投資的出售時點以認列處分利益、及降價或放寬信貸條件以提高銷售額與超額生產來降低銷貨成本。
本研究實證發現CSR公司較不會選擇透過從事實質盈餘管理來達成盈餘門檻，結果支持道德觀點，顯示具有企業社會責任的公司，可提供較具可靠及透明度的財務資訊給投資者。本研究實證分析亦發現，選擇不透過實質盈餘管理來達成盈餘門檻的CSR公司，相較於藉由實質盈餘管理達成盈餘門檻之CSR公司，次期有較佳之營運現金流量。此項結果亦提供投資者在進行投資決策時，可將企業履行社會責任的行為納入決策中加以考量。

The aim of this study is to investigate to what extent the socially responsible firms would employ discretions to meet earnings threshold when firms encounter conflicts between economic interest and moral considerations. Specifically, we examines whether firms that exhibit corporate social responsibility (CSR) use real earnings management to meet earnings threshold, and explore its impact on the company's future performance to capture company's CSR activities are the Ethical Approach or the Instrumental Approach.
This study adopts KLD’s rating to measure corporate social responsibility and Gunny (2010) proposed four types of real activities manipulation to measure real earnings management, including: cutting discretionary investment of R&D to decrease expense, cutting discretionary investment of SG&A to decrease expense, selling fixed assets to report gains, and cutting prices or extending more lenient credit terms to boost sales and⁄or overproduce to decrease COGS expense.
The empirical evidence supports the notion that CSR firms are less likely to engage in real activity management to meet earnings threshold, which supports the Ethical Approach. This finding suggests that CSR firms can deliver more reliable and transparent financial information to investors. Our study also shows that CSR firms choose not to engage in real activity manipulation to meet earnings threshold have significantly better future operating cash flows compared to CSR firms who choose to use real earnings management. We suggest that investors can also take CSR into account when making investment decisions.

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