Gender Differences in Financial Reporting Decision-Making: Evidence from Accounting Conservatism

Francis, Bill; Hasan, Iftekhar; Park, Jong Chool; Wu, Qiang

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1361791

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

Gender Differences in Financial Reporting Decision-Making: Evidence from Accounting Conservatism

51 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2009

See all articles by Bill Francis

Bill Francis

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Lally School of Management & Technology

Iftekhar Hasan

Fordham University ; Bank of Finland; University of Sydney

Jong Chool Park

University of South Florida - School of Accountancy

Qiang Wu

Hong Kong Polytechnic University - School of Accounting and Finance; Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Faculty of Business

There are 4 versions of this paper

Date Written: March, 17 2009

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of gender on corporate financial reporting decision-making. By focusing on firms that experience changes of CFO from male to female, we compare the firm's degree of reporting conservatism between pre- and posttransition periods. Using various measures of reporting conservatism, we find female CFOs tend to report firm performance more conservatively. Our results also hold after considering the effect of boards of directors, CFO ownership, and concurrent CEO turnover on accounting conservatism. Finally, we find the level of reporting conservatism declines after firms change their CFOs from female to male. Overall, our study implies female CFOs are more risk-averse than male CFOs so that females CFOs adopt more conservative financial reporting policies.

Keywords: Financial reporting; Gender; Conservatism; CFO; Risk-averse

JEL Classification: M41; J16

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Francis, Bill and Hasan, Iftekhar and Park, Jong Chool and Wu, Qiang, Gender Differences in Financial Reporting Decision-Making: Evidence from Accounting Conservatism (March, 17 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1361791 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1361791