Family enterprises have been a major part of capital markets. By possessing most of their stock or being a
member of the board, family members are considered the main decision makers in family businesses. Earnings
on the other hand have always been a performance indicator which is under management control, most often
managed or manipulated.This research seeks to identify and compare earnings management between family and
non-family structured firms. After definingcriteria regarding family and non-family firms, 31 samples were
selected as family based and they were grouped in relevant industries according to Tehran Stock Exchange
categorization. Afterwards we randomly selected non-family firms from those industries with the same
proportion. To test the research hypothesis, Jones adjusted model (Dechow et al, 1995) and multivariable
regression model were used. The results indicate a meaningful relation between earnings management and
ownership structure of firms where in average, non-family firms engagein earnings management more often than
family ones.