Quarterly earnings allow aggregation into annual earnings in four different ways. Fiscal year
earnings is one measure of annual earnings, the others being earnings for annual periods ending at
interim quarter-ends. We investigate earnings management in fiscal year earnings relative to these
alternative measures of firms’ annual earnings. We confirm prior findings in Burgstahler and Dichev
(1997. Earnings management to avoid earnings decreases and losses. Journal of Accounting and
Economics 24, 99–126) of discontinuities around zero and prior year earnings in histograms of
earnings. Subsequent research questions whether these discontinuities are evidence of earnings