Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs

We investigate the impact of CFO gender on CFO compensation and earnings management in Australia. In a sample of exchange-listed firms from 2006 to 2010, we find a significant gender pay gap in CFO compensation but much of this pay gap dissipates when female CFOs are matched using a propensity scori...

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Main Authors: Duong, Lien, Evans, John
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier BV 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27878
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author Duong, Lien
Evans, John
author_facet Duong, Lien
Evans, John
author_sort Duong, Lien
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description We investigate the impact of CFO gender on CFO compensation and earnings management in Australia. In a sample of exchange-listed firms from 2006 to 2010, we find a significant gender pay gap in CFO compensation but much of this pay gap dissipates when female CFOs are matched using a propensity scoring method. Female CFOs tend to choose less risky remuneration packages with more cash and less non-cash component, with more salary and less bonus than their male peers. In addition, female CFOs are more conservative and deliver higher reporting quality compared to male CFOs. They engage substantially less in both accruals-based and real-based earnings management than their male counterparts. The difference in behavior of earnings management and in the selected compensation structures between male and female CFOs can be possibly explained by the gender-based difference in personal risk preference.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-278782018-08-06T07:49:02Z Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs Duong, Lien Evans, John We investigate the impact of CFO gender on CFO compensation and earnings management in Australia. In a sample of exchange-listed firms from 2006 to 2010, we find a significant gender pay gap in CFO compensation but much of this pay gap dissipates when female CFOs are matched using a propensity scoring method. Female CFOs tend to choose less risky remuneration packages with more cash and less non-cash component, with more salary and less bonus than their male peers. In addition, female CFOs are more conservative and deliver higher reporting quality compared to male CFOs. They engage substantially less in both accruals-based and real-based earnings management than their male counterparts. The difference in behavior of earnings management and in the selected compensation structures between male and female CFOs can be possibly explained by the gender-based difference in personal risk preference. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27878 10.1016/j.pacfin.2016.07.004 Elsevier BV fulltext
spellingShingle Duong, Lien
Evans, John
Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs
title Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs
title_full Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs
title_fullStr Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs
title_full_unstemmed Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs
title_short Gender differences in compensation and earnings management: Evidence from Australian CFOs
title_sort gender differences in compensation and earnings management: evidence from australian cfos
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27878