We examine the use of pension expense as an earnings management tool by examining each of the individual components that make up pension expense. Given the complexity and numerous required assumptions and estimations needed to arrive at pension expense, and the difficulty in verifying these items, pensions are a logical area in which one would expect to find earnings management. Using the many individual components that make up overall pension expense, we find evidence suggesting earnings management involving pensions is much more subtle than simply adjusting the overall pension expense. We find that each component of pension expense is significantly different from our estimates developed using a series of expectations models. Our overall regression results indicate most individual components of pension expense are highly significant and help to explain the variation in discretionary accruals.