We are witnessing a growing recognition of earnings management as a research area in the context of public sector organizations. Nevertheless, compared with research in the private sector, the current state of earnings management research in public sector contexts is still in its early (i.e. “walking”) stages, and there is potential for further progress and advancement (i.e. “running”). In the next section, we summarize and discuss what we have learned from the research conducted so far, with a particular focus on the articles included in this special issue. In the third and final section, we discuss the future of the literature, highlighting what we believe to be promising areas for future research on earnings management in public sector organizations.