Effect of upper echelons’ demographic characteristics on earnings management in troubled non-listed companies in Nigeria

Abstract

Research has shown that companies in a financial crisis are usually successful in hiding their poor performance through aggressive earnings management at the detriment of stakeholders like investors and loan providers. The wave of current bank loan defaulters rocking the Nigerian banking system afforded a unique opportunity to study earnings management in troubled, non-listed companies in Nigeria to contribute to the attainment of the sustainability goal 9 on industrialization in developing countries. This study aimed at investigating the influence of top management's demographic characteristics on corporate earnings management. Using Slovin's 1960 sampling size formula, 80 non-listed companies were selected for the study from the list of 98 non-listed companies among the debtors of Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). Copies of a questionnaire were administered on 240 financial officers (3 participants per company). Descriptive statistics involved computation of percentages, means and standard deviations while hypotheses were tested with structural equation modelling using AMOS SPSS. Findings revealed a relatively high level of earnings management with significant positive relationships with age, tenure, educational level and gender of the CFOs.

Are female CFOs more ethical to the occurrences of financial reporting fraud? Theoretical and empirical evidence from cross-listed firms in the US

“…They also note that female CFOs are more cautious and less aggressive than men in a variety of decision-making contexts. A similar view can be seen in the work of Taleatu et al (2020) that female CFOs are likely to be more ethical in their judgement and behaviour than men. So it is acceptable to expect that female CFOs are less likely to encourage financial reporting fraud and help companies reduce opportunistic behaviours.…”

Moderasi Kualitas Audit dalam Pengaruh Karakteristik Demografi CFO terhadap Manajemen Laba

“…Masih terdapat karakteristik demografi pada Teori Eselon Atas yang dapat diuji seperti masa kerja, pengalaman kerja, dan usia (Akinwumi et al, 2020). Rekomendasi untuk penelitian yang akan datang antara lain menambah atau mengganti variabel bebas, seperti financial distress, internal control, karakteristik dewan, atau menambah karakteristik demografi yang belum diuji (Li et al 2020;Nguyen et al 2021;Taleatu et al 2020). Variabel moderasi penelitian berikutnya dapat menggunakan pengukuran lainnya untuk variabel kualitas audit dari Logaritma Natural Biaya audit menjadi menggunakan skala nominal dari perusahaan KAP dengan notasi angka 1 apabila perusahaan di audit oleh KAP BIG-4 dan angka 0 oleh KAP non BIG-4 (Zwageri et al, 2020)…”