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This study examines the association between stock prices and discretionary accruals in different stock market cycles and presents evidence about the discrepancy in prior research that investors were able to identify earnings management in some cases, but not in some other cases. We argue that investors’ reaction to the true nature of EPS changes may be different in different market cycles. We suggests that investors pay less attention to the nature of EPS changes in an optimistic cycle, and are more critical in neutral and pessimistic cycles. Therefore, investors are more likely to detect and count for any earnings management in a neutral or pessimistic cycle than in an optimistic cycle. Using the US quarterly data from July 01, 1997 to June 29, 2001, three market cycles were identified: optimistic, neutral and pessimistic. The test results indicated that the association between discretionary accruals and abnormal stock …