Female executives and earnings management
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between earnings management and the gender of the firm's executives.
Design/methodology/approach
Panel regressions of discretionary accruals on a set of female executive dummies and firm‐specific controls.
Findings
The results provide considerable evidence to suggest that firms with female chief financial officers (CFOs) are associated with income‐decreasing discretionary accruals, thereby implying that female CFOs are following more conservative earnings management strategies.
Research limitations/implications
In general, the findings indicate that gender‐based differences in conservatism, risk‐aversion, and managerial opportunism may have important implications for financial reporting and corporate governance.
Originality/value
This paper extends prior research by addressing the potential effects of female executives on earnings management. The findings reported in this paper provide novel insights to the empirical financial accounting literature.
Keywords
Citation
Peni, E. and Vähämaa, S. (2010), "Female executives and earnings management", Managerial Finance, Vol. 36 No. 7, pp. 629-645. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074351011050343
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited