CEO Gender, Ethical leadership and Accounting Conservatism

Ho, S., Li, A.Y., Tam, K. and Zhang, F.F. (2013) CEO Gender, Ethical leadership and Accounting Conservatism. In: American Accounting Association (AAA) 2013 Annual Conference, 3-7 August 2013, Anaheim, CA

Abstract

With male CEOs dominating corporate leadership, prior literature examining top management's decision-making suffers from an implicit masculine bias. Males and females are biologically and psychologically different. Leadership characteristics of the female CEO are largely unexplored. Two of these characteristics, risk aversion and ethical sensitivity, are tied to key accounting issues such as conservatism in financial reporting and steadfastness against frauds. Contributing to the literature on ethical leadership, this research examines the relationship between CEO gender and accounting conservatism, and observes a positive association between them. Consistent with conventional wisdom, this association strengthens in firms with high litigation risks and takeover risks. This paper contributes to the ethics literature by highlighting the benefits of gender equality and conservatism.

Item Type:	Conference Paper
Publisher:	American Accounting Association
Copyright:	The Authors
Conference Website:	https://aaahq.org/AM2013/index.cfm
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/22190

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