No, that is not an only way for example
Select first 1 id from (
Select id FROM tbl WHERE id = 9823474
Union All
Select 4 from rdb$database)
Or you can use anonymous procedure http://firebirdsql.su/doku.php?id=execute_block
EXECUTE BLOCK RETURNS ( id integer )
AS
BEGIN
IF ( EXISTS (SELECT * FROM tbl WHERE id = 9823474) )
THEN id = 9823474;
ELSE id = 4;
SUSPEND;
END
... there always are many methods there