The paper examines earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), focusing on both real activities and accrual-based manipulation. It is the first study to integrate these two areas of research. The authors document that firms use both real and accrual-based earnings management tools around SEOs. Consistent with the expectation that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has increased the costs of accrual-based earnings management, they find that firms have shifted from accrual to real earnings management after SOX. The study also explores how firms' choices between real and accrual-based earnings management vary cross-sectionally, finding that these choices are predictable based on the firm's ability to use accrual management and the associated costs. The model provides insights into how firms trade off between real and accrual methods of earnings management.The paper examines earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), focusing on both real activities and accrual-based manipulation. It is the first study to integrate these two areas of research. The authors document that firms use both real and accrual-based earnings management tools around SEOs. Consistent with the expectation that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has increased the costs of accrual-based earnings management, they find that firms have shifted from accrual to real earnings management after SOX. The study also explores how firms' choices between real and accrual-based earnings management vary cross-sectionally, finding that these choices are predictable based on the firm's ability to use accrual management and the associated costs. The model provides insights into how firms trade off between real and accrual methods of earnings management.