Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies

This study examines the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the top management team (TMT) and earnings management by the use of 1307 Chinese-listed manufacturing companies from China Stock Market and Accounting Research, covering the period 2014-2018. The demographic characterist...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chen, Yawen
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2020
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/62619/
_version_ 1848799966599839744
author Chen, Yawen
author_facet Chen, Yawen
author_sort Chen, Yawen
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This study examines the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the top management team (TMT) and earnings management by the use of 1307 Chinese-listed manufacturing companies from China Stock Market and Accounting Research, covering the period 2014-2018. The demographic characteristics of the TMT is measured by the use of four factors: gender, age, financial work experience and educational level. The abnormal cash flow from operations, abnormal production cost, abnormal discretionary cost and a comprehensive proxy of the sum of these three are employed in the estimation of real earnings management, which is a proxy for earnings management. The variables controlled by this research include leverage, company size, book-to-market ratio, return on equity and sales growth. The findings in this study show that the gender, age and financial experience of top managers have no significant impact on earnings management. However, the average educational level of top managers is significantly negatively correlated with earnings management meaning that top managers with higher education may participate less in earnings management activities. These results are partially consistent with the prediction of the Upper Echelons Theory that the TMT’s demographic characteristics as a measure of the potential cognition and behaviour of individuals and teams, thus influencing the earnings management decisions of the company. These results have implications for various stakeholders in corporate financial reporting and also provides insights for those who select and train top managers.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T20:44:04Z
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-62619
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T20:44:04Z
publishDate 2020
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-626192023-04-14T12:01:15Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/62619/ Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies Chen, Yawen This study examines the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the top management team (TMT) and earnings management by the use of 1307 Chinese-listed manufacturing companies from China Stock Market and Accounting Research, covering the period 2014-2018. The demographic characteristics of the TMT is measured by the use of four factors: gender, age, financial work experience and educational level. The abnormal cash flow from operations, abnormal production cost, abnormal discretionary cost and a comprehensive proxy of the sum of these three are employed in the estimation of real earnings management, which is a proxy for earnings management. The variables controlled by this research include leverage, company size, book-to-market ratio, return on equity and sales growth. The findings in this study show that the gender, age and financial experience of top managers have no significant impact on earnings management. However, the average educational level of top managers is significantly negatively correlated with earnings management meaning that top managers with higher education may participate less in earnings management activities. These results are partially consistent with the prediction of the Upper Echelons Theory that the TMT’s demographic characteristics as a measure of the potential cognition and behaviour of individuals and teams, thus influencing the earnings management decisions of the company. These results have implications for various stakeholders in corporate financial reporting and also provides insights for those who select and train top managers. 2020-09-10 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/62619/1/20145310-BUSI4153-Exploring%20the%20Impact%20of%20Demographic%20Characteristics%20of%20Top%20Management%20Team%20on%20Earning%20Management%20The%20Case%20of%20Chinese-Listed%20Manufacturing%20Companies.pdf Chen, Yawen (2020) Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]
spellingShingle Chen, Yawen
Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies
title Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies
title_full Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies
title_fullStr Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies
title_short Exploring the Impact of Demographic Characteristics of Top Management Team on Earning Management: The Case of Chinese-Listed Manufacturing Companies
title_sort exploring the impact of demographic characteristics of top management team on earning management: the case of chinese-listed manufacturing companies
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/62619/