Does the quarterly accrual anomaly exist in Taiwan's stock market? Evidence from Manager's earnings management.

This study investigates the existence of quarterly accrual anomalies in Taiwan's stock market. Our empirical results indicate that the arbitrage portfolios formed by the accounting accruals of the fourth‐quarter financial reports could result in abnormal returns, and thus, inferred that quarterly accrual anomalies exist. We further examined the causes of the accrual anomalies and determined that the manager conduct earnings management behavior during the fourth quarter. Managers execute discretionary accruals for management earnings forecast to meet previously issued financial forecasts, which leads to the fourth‐quarter accrual anomalies. The portfolios formed by using discretionary accruals and management earnings forecasts produce arbitrage portfolios with optimal return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]