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Earnings Quality Check
Enter a US-listed ticker. See three forensic screens — manipulation risk, distress risk and earnings quality — computed from the company's own SEC filings.
FAQ
Common questions.
What does this check measure?
Three standard forensic accounting screens. The Beneish M-Score looks for statistical patterns associated with earnings manipulation; above −1.78 is a flag. The Altman Z-Score measures how close a company's balance sheet looks to companies that later failed, in safe, grey and distress zones. The earnings quality score measures how much of the profit is backed by cash rather than accounting entries.
Where do the numbers come from?
From the company's own SEC filings (XBRL financial data), computed by AnalystBook with fixed formulas. Nothing is estimated, and no AI writes the numbers.
Does a flag mean the company is committing fraud or going bankrupt?
No. These are screens, not verdicts. A score over a line is a reason to read the filing more closely. Fast-growing companies often trip the Beneish screen for harmless reasons, and young companies often sit in the Altman distress zone because of their stage, not their health.
Why are banks, insurers, REITs and utilities not scored?
The screens were calibrated on companies with ordinary working-capital balance sheets. A bank's loans and deposits, or a regulated utility's designed-in leverage, would read as distress where there is none, so the check explains why instead of showing a misleading score.
Read more: the Beneish M-Score · the Altman Z-Score · earnings quality