IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/rqfnac/v52y2019i2d10.1007_s11156-018-0721-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CEO power, board oversight, and earnings announcement tone

Author

Listed:
  • D. G. DeBoskey

    (San Diego State University)

  • Yan Luo

    (San Diego State University)

  • Linying Zhou

    (California State University San Marcos)

Abstract

This study constructs a model of the determinants of earnings announcement tone in order to examine the impact of CEO power on earnings announcement tone. An interaction term between CEO power and board monitoring is used to test whether effective board oversight moderates the strength of the association between CEO power and earnings announcement tone. Following prior research, we measure earnings announcement tone as the spread in the proportion of positive and negative words in the announcements. CEO power is assessed across two dimensions: (1) expert power (CEO tenure) and (2) structural power (CEO-chairman duality). We use board independence, meeting frequency, and board meeting attendance to measure the effectiveness of board oversight. We find that earnings announcement tone is significantly positively associated with CEO tenure and CEO duality. The effect of CEO tenure is weaker when board oversight is stronger, especially when board members have higher reputation costs, whereas the effect of CEO duality is unchanged by board oversight mechanisms. The empirical evidence is broadly consistent with the notion that powerful CEOs use a more optimistic and aggressive tone in their earnings’ announcements and that stronger board oversight is effective in constraining overt aggressiveness in the earnings announcements issued by CEOs with longer tenure but not those issued by dual-role CEOs. The results are robust to several sensitivity tests. Finally, this study identifies CEO power and board oversight as previously unrecognized determinants of tone in earnings announcements.

Suggested Citation

  • D. G. DeBoskey & Yan Luo & Linying Zhou, 2019. "CEO power, board oversight, and earnings announcement tone," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 657-680, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:52:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11156-018-0721-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11156-018-0721-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11156-018-0721-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11156-018-0721-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sie Ting Lau & Keshab Shrestha & Jing Yu, 2016. "Corporate Governance and the Information Content of Earnings Announcements: A Cross†Country Analysis," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(3), pages 1238-1266, September.
    2. Paul C. Tetlock & Maytal Saar‐Tsechansky & Sofus Macskassy, 2008. "More Than Words: Quantifying Language to Measure Firms' Fundamentals," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1437-1467, June.
    3. Anderson, Ronald C. & Mansi, Sattar A. & Reeb, David M., 2004. "Board characteristics, accounting report integrity, and the cost of debt," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 315-342, September.
    4. Anwer S. Ahmed & Scott Duellman, 2013. "Managerial Overconfidence and Accounting Conservatism," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 1-30, March.
    5. Bergstresser, Daniel & Philippon, Thomas, 2006. "CEO incentives and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 511-529, June.
    6. Burns, Natasha & Kedia, Simi, 2006. "The impact of performance-based compensation on misreporting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 35-67, January.
    7. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    8. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    9. Yermack, David, 1997. "Good Timing: CEO Stock Option Awards and Company News Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 449-476, June.
    10. Vafeas, Nikos, 2000. "Board structure and the informativeness of earnings," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 139-160, June.
    11. Feng, Mei & Ge, Weili & Luo, Shuqing & Shevlin, Terry, 2011. "Why do CFOs become involved in material accounting manipulations?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 21-36.
    12. Lerong He & James J. Cordeiro & Tara Shankar Shaw, 2015. "CEO power, equity ownership and underwriter reputation as determinants of lockup period length," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(5), pages 438-458, May.
    13. Arslan-Ayaydin, Özgür & Boudt, Kris & Thewissen, James, 2016. "Managers set the tone: Equity incentives and the tone of earnings press releases," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(S), pages 132-147.
    14. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2014. "Measuring Readability in Financial Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1643-1671, August.
    15. Augustin Landier & Julien Sauvagnat & David Sraer & David Thesmar, 2013. "Bottom-Up Corporate Governance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(1), pages 161-201.
    16. Irene Karamanou & Nikos Vafeas, 2005. "The Association between Corporate Boards, Audit Committees, and Management Earnings Forecasts: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 453-486, June.
    17. Jennings, R, 1987. "Unsystematic Security Price Movements, Management Earnings Forecasts, And Revisions In Consensus Analyst Earnings Forecasts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 90-110.
    18. Alexander Muravyev & Oleksandr Talavera & Charlie Weir, 2016. "Performance effects of appointing other firms’ executive directors to corporate boards: an analysis of UK firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 25-45, January.
    19. Mark S. Beasley & Steven E. Salterio, 2001. "The Relationship between Board Characteristics and Voluntary Improvements in Audit Committee Composition and Experience," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 539-570, December.
    20. Agyenim Boateng & XiaoGang Bi & Sanjukta Brahma, 2017. "The impact of firm ownership, board monitoring on operating performance of Chinese mergers and acquisitions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 925-948, November.
    21. Paul C. Tetlock, 2007. "Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1139-1168, June.
    22. Nikos Vafeas, 2005. "Audit Committees, Boards, and the Quality of Reported Earnings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 1093-1122, December.
    23. Richard A. D'Aveni & Idalene F. Kesner, 1993. "Top Managerial Prestige, Power and Tender Offer Response: A Study of Elite Social Networks and Target Firm Cooperation during Takeovers," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(2), pages 123-151, May.
    24. Fich, Eliezer M. & Shivdasani, Anil, 2007. "Financial fraud, director reputation, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 306-336, November.
    25. Joseph V. Carcello & Terry L. Neal & Zoe†Vonna Palmrose & Susan Scholz, 2011. "CEO Involvement in Selecting Board Members, Audit Committee Effectiveness, and Restatements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 396-430, June.
    26. Diego García, 2013. "Sentiment during Recessions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 1267-1300, June.
    27. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    28. Vikramaditya Khanna & E. Han Kim & Yao Lu, 2015. "CEO Connectedness and Corporate Fraud," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(3), pages 1203-1252, June.
    29. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    30. Liona Lai & Henry Tam, 2017. "Corporate governance, ownership structure and managing earnings to meet critical thresholds among Chinese listed firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 789-818, April.
    31. Huilong Liu & Hong Wang & Liansheng Wu, 2016. "Removing Vacant Chairs: Does Independent Directors’ Attendance at Board Meetings Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 375-393, January.
    32. Angela K. Davis & Jeremy M. Piger & Lisa M. Sedor, 2012. "Beyond the Numbers: Measuring the Information Content of Earnings Press Release Language," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 845-868, September.
    33. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Duellman, Scott, 2007. "Accounting conservatism and board of director characteristics: An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 411-437, July.
    34. James Cicon, 2017. "Say it again Sam: the information content of corporate conference calls," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 57-81, January.
    35. Zeki Simsek, 2007. "CEO tenure and organizational performance: an intervening model," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 653-662, June.
    36. Alexander Muravyev & Oleksandr Talavera & Charlie Weir, 2016. "Performance effects of appointing other firms’ executive directors to corporate boards: an analysis of UK firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 25-45, January.
    37. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    38. Louis T. W. Cheng & T. Y. Leung, 2012. "The Effects of Management Demography on Auditor Choice and Earnings Quality: Evidence from China," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(02), pages 1-37.
    39. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    40. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    41. Angela K. Davis & Isho Tama†Sweet, 2012. "Managers’ Use of Language Across Alternative Disclosure Outlets: Earnings Press Releases versus MD&A," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 804-837, September.
    42. Price, S. McKay & Doran, James S. & Peterson, David R. & Bliss, Barbara A., 2012. "Earnings conference calls and stock returns: The incremental informativeness of textual tone," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 992-1011.
    43. Tama-Sweet, Isho, 2014. "Changes in earnings announcement tone and insider sales," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 276-282.
    44. Liu, Baixiao & McConnell, John J., 2013. "The role of the media in corporate governance: Do the media influence managers' capital allocation decisions?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 1-17.
    45. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Wu, Di, 2013. "Word power: A new approach for content analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 712-729.
    46. Onali, Enrico & Galiakhmetova, Ramilya & Molyneux, Philip & Torluccio, Giuseppe, 2016. "CEO power, government monitoring, and bank dividends," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 89-117.
    47. I-Ju Chen, 2016. "Corporate Governance and the Efficiency of Internal Capital Markets," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(02), pages 1-50, June.
    48. Kim, Irene & Skinner, Douglas J., 2012. "Measuring securities litigation risk," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 290-310.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yan Luo & Linying Zhou, 2020. "Textual tone in corporate financial disclosures: a survey of the literature," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(2), pages 101-110, September.
    2. Rahman, Anisur & Talukdar, Bakhtear & Fan, Zaifeng Steve, 2023. "Board independence and analysts' forecast accuracy: R&D perspective," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    3. Kannan-Narasimhan, Rangapriya (Priya) & Wang, Ruixiang & Zhu, Pengcheng, 2023. "Founder versus agent CEOs: Effects of founder status and power on firm innovation and cost of capital," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Hesham Bassyouny & Tarek Abdelfattah, 2022. "Executives vs. governance: Who has the predictive power? Evidence from narrative tone," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 361-382, January.
    5. Luluk Muhimatul Ifada & Hendar Hendar & Norman Mohd Saleh, 2024. "Board governance model, institutions, financial performance, and environmental performance: Stakeholder supremacy or coordination problems?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 3869-3883, September.
    6. Sun, Li & Skousen, Christopher J., 2022. "CEO power and discontinued operations," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    7. Huang, Xiaohong & Kabir, Rezaul & Thijssen, Maximiliaan Willem Pierre, 2024. "Powerful female CEOs and the capital structure of firms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    8. Marwa Elnahass & Kamil Omoteso & Aly Salama & Vu Quang Trinh, 2020. "Differential market valuations of board busyness across alternative banking models," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 201-238, July.
    9. Yin Liu & Huiqi Gan & Khondkar Karim, 2020. "Corporate risk-taking after adoption of compensation clawback provisions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 617-649, February.
    10. Liu, Pu & Nguyen, Hazel T., 2020. "CEO characteristics and tone at the top inconsistency," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    11. Vu Quang Trinh & Marwa Elnahass & Aly Salama, 2021. "Board busyness and new insights into alternative bank dividends models," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1289-1328, May.
    12. Sanjukta Brahma & Fotini Economou, 2024. "CEO power and corporate strategies: a review of the literature," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1069-1143, April.
    13. Sun, Li & Johnson, Grace & Bradley, Wray, 2022. "CEO power and annual report reading difficulty," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    14. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2020. "Beyond narrative disclosure tone: The upper echelons theory perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    15. Wang, Chunlan & Xin, Jianxuan & Sun, Fangfang & Shi, Yan & Du, Yuxuan, 2024. "The effects of manager sentiment in financial disclosure: Perspectives of operational efficiency and market reaction," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Luminita Enache & Antonio Parbonetti & Anup Srivastava, 2020. "Are all outside directors created equal with respect to firm disclosure policy?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 541-577, August.
    17. Hsu, Shufang & Lin, Shih-Wei & Chen, Wei-Peng & Huang, Jhao-Wei, 2021. "CEO duality, information costs, and firm performance," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    18. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2022. "Narrative disclosure tone: A review and areas for future research," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    19. Zhi Su & Bo Yi & Linan Wang, 2022. "Is corporate philanthropy a pretext for executives' excess perk consumption? Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 4010-4027, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yan Luo & Linying Zhou, 2020. "Textual tone in corporate financial disclosures: a survey of the literature," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(2), pages 101-110, September.
    2. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2016. "Textual Analysis in Accounting and Finance: A Survey," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1187-1230, September.
    3. Arslan-Ayaydin, Özgür & Boudt, Kris & Thewissen, James, 2016. "Managers set the tone: Equity incentives and the tone of earnings press releases," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(S), pages 132-147.
    4. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    5. Ingrid E. Fisher & Margaret R. Garnsey & Mark E. Hughes, 2016. "Natural Language Processing in Accounting, Auditing and Finance: A Synthesis of the Literature with a Roadmap for Future Research," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 157-214, July.
    6. Wanli Li & Tiantian Yan & Yue Li & Ziqiao Yan, 2023. "Earnings management and CSR report tone: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1883-1902, July.
    7. Ardia, David & Bluteau, Keven & Boudt, Kris, 2022. "Media abnormal tone, earnings announcements, and the stock market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Gilberto Marquez-Illescas & Allan A. Zebedee & Linying Zhou, 2019. "Hear Me Write: Does CEO Narcissism Affect Disclosure?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 401-417, October.
    9. John Donovan & Jared Jennings & Kevin Koharki & Joshua Lee, 2021. "Measuring credit risk using qualitative disclosure," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 815-863, June.
    10. Jiao Ji & Oleksandr Talavera & Shuxing Yin, 2018. "The Hidden Information Content: Evidence from the Tone of Independent Director Reports," Working Papers 2018-28, Swansea University, School of Management.
    11. Özgür Arslan‐Ayaydin & James Thewissen & Wouter Torsin, 2021. "Disclosure tone management and labor unions," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1-2), pages 102-147, January.
    12. Hidaya Lawati & Khaled Hussainey & Roza Sagitova, 2021. "Disclosure quality vis-à-vis disclosure quantity: Does audit committee matter in Omani financial institutions?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 557-594, August.
    13. Walter Gontarek & Yacine Belghitar, 2021. "CEO chairman controversy: evidence from the post financial crisis period," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 675-713, February.
    14. Christina Bannier & Thomas Pauls & Andreas Walter, 2019. "Content analysis of business communication: introducing a German dictionary," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(1), pages 79-123, February.
    15. Goh, Lisa & Gupta, Aditi, 2016. "Remuneration of non-executive directors: Evidence from the UK," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 379-399.
    16. Lars Helge Hass & Monika Tarsalewska & Feng Zhan, 2016. "Equity Incentives and Corporate Fraud in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(4), pages 723-742, November.
    17. Xiao Wu, Dong & Yao, Xiao & Luan Guo, Jian, 2021. "Is Textual Tone Informative or Inflated for Firm’s Future Value? Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 513-525.
    18. Miwa, Kotaro, 2022. "The informational role of analysts’ textual statements," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    19. Kothari, Pratik & Chance, Don M. & Ferris, Stephen P., 2021. "Bragging rights: Does corporate boasting imply value creation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    20. Elshandidy, Tamer & Kamel, Hany, 2024. "Tone of narrative disclosures and earnings management: UK evidence," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board; CEO tenure; CEO duality; Earnings announcement; Tone;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:rqfnac:v:52:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11156-018-0721-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.