Research background: The increasing number of bankruptcies and the growing risk of financial distress highlight the need for quality financial statements, conservative accounting or increase the need for quality tools to detect the occurrence of earnings management. However, the life cycle of a company affects financial performance and key aspects of earnings management, which examined in the international context only to a small extent. Purpose of the article: The paper examines the impact of the life cycle and country-specific factor on the value of discretionary accruals in the tourism sector in the Visegrad countries, which are among the most vulnerable sectors in the coming economic crisis. Methods: This study uses the method of two-way analysis of variance with interaction, while also testing the assumptions of the model by normality tests, homogeneity test and post hoc tests (Scheffé and Tukey methods). Findings & Value added: Earnings quality changes during the life cycle of a business; whereas in the first stages (introduction, growth) and in decline they use downward earnings management. On the contrary, mature and shake-out companies have enough positive earnings before taxes, which is a prerequisite for tax profit optimization. The level of earnings management in tourism varies significantly at different stages of the life cycle, but also in different countries. The results imply that the qualitative variable corporate life cycle in interaction with the country is an important explanatory variable, the implementation of which can improve the explanatory power of earnings management models in Central European developing countries.