We utilize the size of CFO and CEO signatures as a proxy for narcissism to determine the influence of the executive's personality on financial reporting characteristics and outcomes. Our experimental validation study first demonstrates that narcissism predicts misreporting behavior among students, and that student signature size predicts misreporting through its positive association with narcissism. Our archival tests subsequently examine notarized CFO and CEO signatures drawn from the same document and reveal that CFO narcissism predicts accruals and real earnings management as well as lower conditional accounting conservatism, weaker internal controls, and a higher probability of accounting restatements and shareholder lawsuits. CEO narcissism is not associated with any of these financial reporting characteristics or outcomes. Taken together, the results suggest that signature size is valid proxy for narcissism, and that CFO narcissism can lead to poor reporting quality.
| Speaker: | Dr Nick Seybert Assistant Professor, University of Maryland |
| When: |
3.30 pm - 5.00 pm |
| Venue: | School of Accountancy [Map] Level 4, Meeting Room 4.1 |
| Contact: | Office of the Dean Email: SOAR@smu.edu.sg |