Wizard Company bought out one of its smaller competitors last year and recognized $$5$ million in goodwill from the acquisition. Wizard$$s earnings this year were not good and its forecast for next year is not much better. Because the acquisition did not add much value, Wizard took a $$4$ million write$-$off to goodwill and reported poor earnings for the year, and blamed the performance on an unsuccessful acquisition.

Based on the information given to you, which of the earnings management $($or manipulation$)$ practices applies to Wizard Company in this example?

Timing acquisitions to spread their expenses over a range of time

Taking write$-$offs against increased reserves in good times

Taking a $$big$-$bath$$ write$-$off to excuse and manage bad earnings performance