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CFO gender and financial statement comparability

Author

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  • Wang, Fangjun
  • Zhang, Zhichao
  • Ho, L.C. Jennifer
  • Usman, Muhammad

Abstract

This study examines the effect of chief financial officers (CFOs) gender on firms' financial statement comparability. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms, we find that firms with female CFOs exhibit higher comparability relative to firms with male CFOs. We further find that the positive relation between having a female CFO and comparability disappears in the industries that are dominated with male CFOs. In additional analyses, we fail to find any significant effects of having female chief executive officers (CEOs) or other female executives on comparability, highlighting the importance of CFOs in the domain of financial reporting decisions. Finally, we show that only in non-male CFO dominated industries, greater comparability is associated with an improvement in analysts' forecast accuracy and dispersion. Overall, our findings are consistent with the view that, due to their innate personality and behavioral differences, female CFOs are likely to exhibit stronger incentives to comply with accounting rules and standards, which in turn improves comparability. We also highlight the uniqueness of comparability by showing that it does not always co-move with reporting quality since it is an inter-firm attribute rather than a firm's own reporting characteristic.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Fangjun & Zhang, Zhichao & Ho, L.C. Jennifer & Usman, Muhammad, 2023. "CFO gender and financial statement comparability," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:80:y:2023:i:c:s0927538x23001713
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2023.102100
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    CFO gender; Risk-aversion; Ethical leadership; Financial statement comparability; Financial reporting quality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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