Women on the Board: Do They Manage Earnings? Empirical Evidence from European Listed Firms

Abstract Purpose: To analyse the impact of women on boards of directors and the gender of CEOs and CFOs on the earnings management and, thus, on the quality of the financial information of European listed firms. Design/methodology/approach: Archival research based on data collected from Bloomberg, complemented by information hand collected from financial reports, for a sample of European listed firms, covering 2007-2013. Findings: The main results show that only CFO gender has an impact on both the intensity and direction of earnings management. Firms with a woman CFO presented less earnings management than those with a male CFO. We also find evidence that women manage earnings downwards, such that discretionary accruals are used to decrease reported earnings. Originality/value: We contribute to the still scarce literature on the impact of gender on earnings management and financial reporting quality, namely by providing international evidence, since the extant literature focuses on the USA.