The relationship between gender diversity on corporate boards and earnings management practices

Abstract

This thesis consists of three main aims which analyse secondary data on eight European Union countries (France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, and Finland) during the period 2010 – 2017. The first aim of this thesis focused on the risk aversion and ethical sensitivity stereotype of women on top corporate positions debate by investigating the relationship between female directors and female CEOs presence and earnings management. The second aim of this thesis concentrated on whether the proportion of female directors would play an essential role in shaping board interaction and influencing monitoring effectiveness by constraining earnings management practices. The last aim goes more in depth by looking at female directors as a bundle of attributes as it focuses on specific attributes and roles of female directors that would affect the different earnings management methods. The results revealed that female directors and female CEOs tend to constrain earnings management practices associated with high litigation risks and allow less risky earnings management practices indicating that the common women characteristics stereotype might not be fully applicable on top corporate level. Also, the findings supported that boards consisting between 20% to 40% of female directors are more able to significantly influence the three earnings management methods, however, having too low or too high proportion of female directors might not always affect board monitoring practices. In addition, the findings highlighted the crucial role of female members and chairwomen on audit committees as it resulted in effectively eliminating all earnings management methods. Similarly, female directors’ tenure and educational level are essential in enhancing their monitoring effectiveness and reducing all earnings management methods. On the other hand, foreign female directors are less likely to detect earnings management methods. This is a comprehensive study which contribute in better understanding the vague and inconclusive relationship between female directors and earnings management practices by looking at this relationship through different theoretical lenses: agency theory, critical mass theory and human capital theory.