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CFO tenure, CFO board membership and accounting conservatism

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  • Muttakin, Mohammad Badrul
  • Khan, Arifur
  • Tanewski, George

Abstract

We examine the influence of chief financial officer (CFO) tenure and CFO board membership on accounting conservatism among Australian listed companies. The study uses market-based (i.e., timeliness of earnings to news) and accounting-based (i.e., accrual-based loss recognition) measures of conservative accounting. The results show that while longer CFO tenure and CFO board membership increases accounting conservativism, this is not the case when CFOs become entrenched through long board-membership tenure. This entrenchment appears to lead to the use of aggressive accounting practices. Overall, the results indicate that CFO tenure and CFO board membership improve financial-reporting quality by increasing accounting conservatism in organizations, providing evidence of the importance of recognizing these two governance characteristics in policymaking and in regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Muttakin, Mohammad Badrul & Khan, Arifur & Tanewski, George, 2019. "CFO tenure, CFO board membership and accounting conservatism," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jocaae:v:15:y:2019:i:3:s1815566919301067
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcae.2019.100165
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    Cited by:

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    2. Felix Schumann & Toni W. Thun & Tobias Dauth & Henning Zülch, 2024. "Does top management team diversity affect accounting quality? Empirical evidence from Germany," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(1), pages 137-175, March.

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