Gaming Earnings and Repurchases, an Academic Paper noticed by George Zachar
Earnings Management and Firm Performance Following Open-Market Repurchases
…post-repurchase long-term abnormal returns and the reported improvement in operating performance documented in prior studies, are driven, at least partly, by pre-repurchase downward earnings management, rather than genuine growth in profitability. The average firm reports significantly negative abnormal accruals prior to open-market repurchases. The extent of the downward earnings management increases with the percentage of the company that managers repurchase, and CEO ownership.
This was in my ‘to read’ pile, and I do not recall where I first saw it.