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CEO power and CEO hubris: a prelude to financial misreporting?

Denis Cormier (Department of Accountancy, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada)
Pascale Lapointe-Antunes (Department of Accounting, Goodman School of Business, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada)
Michel Magnan (John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 21 March 2016

2404

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the tension between a firm’s CEO power features and externally observable hubris attributes may determine the likelihood of financial misreporting.

Design/methodology/approach

The analyses are based on a sample of 16 Canadian firms for which there were formal accusations of financial reporting fraud filed by securities regulators, assorted with regulatory sanctions; as well as 16 firms matched on industry and size with no evidence of financial misreporting.

Findings

The findings suggest that firms accused of financial misreporting exhibit features of strong CEO power and hubris as reflected in their relations with the self, others and the world. Governance mechanisms do not seem to be effective in detecting or preventing financial misreporting, with independent boards of directors proving especially ineffectual.

Social implications

The findings suggest that formal governance processes may get coopted by a CEO with hubristic tendencies.

Originality/value

While the tentative model is more explanatory than predictive, it opens up a new research area as it brings the concept of hubris into accounting research.

Keywords

Citation

Cormier, D., Lapointe-Antunes, P. and Magnan, M. (2016), "CEO power and CEO hubris: a prelude to financial misreporting?", Management Decision, Vol. 54 No. 2, pp. 522-554. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-04-2015-0122

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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