This paper examinedthe relationship between earnings management and earnings quality for (93) companies from listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange between 2007– 2016, the total number of observations was 930, and the main research period is from 2011 to 2015. The data was collected as a firm- year and analyzed using multiple regression. The earnings quality was measured through seven distinct attributes: accruals quality, earnings persistence, earnings predictability, earningssmoothness, relevance of earnings, timeliness and conservatism of earnings). In order to achieve the research objectives, seven hypotheses were developed and in each hypothesis, the moderator role of one of the indicators of the earnings quality for each category of stressed and non-stressedfirms was studied.The results indicated that in all cases of measuring the earnings quality, earnings management in stressed firms was opportunistic and in non-stressed firms was efficient. Furthermore, the earnings quality of predictability and relevance types only in non-stressed firms had a significant relationship with future profitability.

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