金融業係一高度管制之行業，其經營之成功與否，除必須符合政府法令規定外， 更取決於管理者平日針對營運、理財及投資之規劃與執行，例如，金融業之資金成本及資產 運用效率係需長期經營而無法短期內迅速改善。因此，財務報表及會計處理方法除具有衡量 、彙總及表達企業營運、理財及投資等經濟活動之結果外，會計政策亦成為經理人員短期內 最可能操弄之工具，以達其私利目標 (包括盈餘目標、資本適足性等 )。本文係探討我國金 融業損益表內之會計損益項目是否存在季別差異之現象，特別是第四季之損益認列是否與其 他三季有所差異; 由於，管理者有操弄盈餘動機，故本文只針對管理者有機會進行盈餘管理 之損益項目分析， 包括應計損益項目 (如壞帳提列 ) 及損益實現時點項目 (如處分固定資 產 ); 換言之， 本研究比較第四季損益操弄項目之季別比例與變異程度是否異於其他三季; 雖然過去國外文獻曾發現第四季特定損益項目比例及金額異於其他季別之特殊現象，但卻未 對此結果進一步探討且亦未針對各季變異程度加以分析。

This paper investigates whether interim income items in Taiwan banking industry exhibit seasonal differences. Since managers attempt to impart a smooth trend to annual earnings number, managers usually make accounting end-of-year adjustments, including accrual items and timing of transactions, to achieve their goals. More specifically, we hypothesize: (1) the fourth quarter ratios of interim income manipulation items are larger and more variable than those of the other three quarters; (2) the ratios of interim income items and their variances are positively correlated; (3) the ratios of the interim pretax income should be similar while the variance of the fourth quarter pretax income snould be larger than that of the other three quarters.