This study explores the ethical perceptions of participants in the financial reporting process in order to comprehend the attitudes and evaluation of the acceptability of different approaches to earning manipulations. The paper presents different scenarios for income smoothing, earnings management and big bath. The scenarios include various motives and methods for earning manipulations. The study was carried out on 105 students, 58 in the role of creators of financial reports and 47 in the role of users of financial statements. The results show that there are significant differences in ethical acceptability of various scenarios for earning manipulations, as well as in various methods and motives of manipulation. On the other hand, research has not demonstrated the existence of significant differences in ethical perceptions between the creators and users of financial statements.