CFO Narcissism and Financial Reporting Quality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ham, Charles; Lang, Mark; Seybert, Nicholas; Wang, Sean
• 署名单位: Washington University (WUSTL); University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; Rice University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-8456
• DOI: 10.1111/1475-679X.12176
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 1089-1135
• 关键词: accrual estimation errors; earnings management; personality-inventory; signature size; construct-validity; INTERNAL CONTROL; UPPER ECHELONS; TOP MANAGERS; risk-taking; self

摘要

We investigate the effect of CFO narcissism, as measured by signature size, on financial reporting quality. Experimentally, we validate that narcissism predicts misreporting behavior, and that signature size predicts misreporting through its association with narcissism. Empirically, we examine notarized CFO signatures and find CFO narcissism is associated with more earnings management, less timely loss recognition, weaker internal control quality, and a higher probability of restatements. The results are consistent for within-firm comparisons focusing on CFO changes and are robust to controlling for CFO overconfidence and CEO narcissism. The results highlight the importance of CFO characteristics in the domain of financial reporting decisions.