Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Does CFO accounting expertise matter to corporate social responsibility disclosure in 10-Ks?

Does CFO accounting expertise matter to corporate social responsibility disclosure in 10-Ks? The study aims to understand the role of accountant in corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors examine whether and how chief financial officer (CFO) accounting expertise and previous work experience influence voluntary CSR disclosure, using textual analysis and natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The authors find that firms' CFOs with accounting expertise disclose more CSR issues in their 10-K reports. Overall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to investors and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.FindingsOverall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to practitioners and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.Research limitations/implicationsThere is an inherent limitation of textual analysis as the tool tries to read key words from the text.Practical implicationsThis finding is useful for policy maker and investors as CSR is known to have impact on the share price.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt to find out accountants' role in CSR activities, which has not been examined in the prior literature. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Applied Accounting Research Emerald Publishing

Does CFO accounting expertise matter to corporate social responsibility disclosure in 10-Ks?

Download PDF
23 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/does-cfo-accounting-expertise-matter-to-corporate-social-0aaOwcR7IM
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
0967-5426
DOI
10.1108/jaar-07-2020-0137
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The study aims to understand the role of accountant in corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors examine whether and how chief financial officer (CFO) accounting expertise and previous work experience influence voluntary CSR disclosure, using textual analysis and natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The authors find that firms' CFOs with accounting expertise disclose more CSR issues in their 10-K reports. Overall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to investors and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.FindingsOverall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to practitioners and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.Research limitations/implicationsThere is an inherent limitation of textual analysis as the tool tries to read key words from the text.Practical implicationsThis finding is useful for policy maker and investors as CSR is known to have impact on the share price.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt to find out accountants' role in CSR activities, which has not been examined in the prior literature.

Journal

Journal of Applied Accounting Research – Emerald Publishing

Published: Oct 7, 2021

Keywords: CFO accounting Expertise; Corporate social responsibility disclosure; Textual analysis

References

  • The financial expertise of CFOs and accounting restatement
    Aier, J.; Comprix, J.; Gunlock, M.; Lee, D.
  • Does CFO expertise matter? A case of corporate water reporting among Malaysian public listed companies
    Alrazi, B.; Husin, N.M.; Ali, I.M.
  • What's my style? The influence of top managers on voluntary corporate financial disclosure
    Bamber, L.; Jiang, J.; Wang, I.
  • Environmental disclosure research: review and synthesis
    Berthelot, S.; Cormier, D.; Magnan, M.
  • Disclosure level and the cost of equity capital
    Botosan, C.
  • Doing well while doing bad? CSR in controversial industry sectors
    Cai, Y.; Jo, H.; Pan, C.
  • 10-K disclosure of corporate social responsibility and firms' competitive advantages
    Cannon, J.N.; Ling, Z.; Wang, Q.; Watanabe, O.V.
  • Why are 10-K filings so long?
    Cazier, R.A.; Pfeiffer, R.J.
  • 10-K disclosure repetition and managerial reporting incentives
    Cazier, R.A.; Pfeiffer, R.J.
  • The language of US corporate environmental disclosure
    Cho, C.; Roberts, R.; Patten, D.
  • Do actions speak louder than words? An empirical investigation of corporate environmental reputation
    Cho, C.; Guidry, R.; Hageman, A.; Patten, D.
  • On the diversification, observability, and measurement of estimation risk
    Clarkson, P.; Guedes, J.; Thompson, R.
  • Form versus substance: the implications for auditing practice and research of alternative perspectives on corporate governance
    Cohen, J.; Krishnamoorthy, G.; Wright, A.
  • Enterprise risk management and the financial reporting process: the experience of audit committee members, CFOs, and external auditors
    Cohen, J.; Krishnamoorthy, G.; Wright, A.
  • Corporate environment disclosure: contrasting management's perceptions with reality
    Cormier, D.; Gordon, I.; Magnan, M.
  • Financial disclosure policy in an entry game
    Darrough, M.; Stoughton, N.
  • Voluntary nonfinancial disclosure and the cost of equity capital: the initiation of corporate social responsibility
    Dhaliwal, D.; Li, O.; Tsang, A.; Yang, Y.
  • Nonfinancial disclosure and analyst forecast accuracy: international evidence on corporate social responsibility disclosure
    Dhaliwal, D.; Radhakrishnan, S.; Tsang, A.; Yang, Y.
  • Active ownership
    Dimson, E.; Karakas, O.; Li, X.
  • The performance Frontier: innovating for a sustainable strategy
    Eccles, R.; Serafeim, G.
  • Why do CFOs become involved in material accounting manipulation?
    Feng, M.; Ge, W.; Luo, S.; Shevlin, T.
  • Does disclosure deter or trigger litigation?
    Field, L.; Lowry, M.; Shu, S.
  • The impact of CFO gender on bank loan contracting
    Francis, B.; Hasan, I.; Wu, Q.
  • Discretionary disclosure and external financing
    Frankel, R.; McNichols, M.; Wilson, P.
  • Evidence on the pernicious effect of financial report environmental disclosure
    Freedman, M.; Patten, D.M.
  • Do CFOs have style? An empirical investigation of the effect of individual CFOs on accounting practices
    Ge, W.; Matsumoto, D.; Zhang, J.
  • Does hiring a new CFO change thing? An investigation of changes in discretionary accruals
    Geiger, M.; North, D.
  • Accounting conservatism and corporate social responsibility
    Guo, J.; Huang, P.; Zhang, Y.
  • CEO/CFO characteristics and financial reporting quality: a review
    Habib, A.; Hossain, M.
  • Internal control material weaknesses and CFO compensation
    Hoitash, R.; Hoitash, U.; Johnstone, K.
  • Do accountants make better chief financial officers?
    Hoitash, R.; Hoitash, U.; Kurt, A.
  • CFOs and CEOs: who have the most influence on earnings management
    Jiang, J.; Petroni, K.; Wang, I.
  • Corporate governance and firm value: the impact of corporate social responsibility
    Jo, H.; Harjoto, M.
  • Disclosure frequency and earnings management
    Jo, H.; Kim, Y.
  • Corporate sustainability: first evidence on materiality
    Khan, M.; Serafeim, G.; Yoon, A.
  • Is earnings quality associated with corporate social responsibility?
    Kim, Y.; Park, M.; Wier, B.
  • Cross-sectional determinants of analyst ratings of corporate disclosures
    Lang, M.; Lundholm, R.
  • Outside directors, corporate social responsibility performance, and corporate tax aggressiveness: an empirical analysis
    Lanis, R.; Richardson, G.
  • Voluntary forecast disclosure, nondisclosure, and stock prices
    Lev, B.; Penman, S.
  • Financial executive qualifications, financial executive turnover, and adverse SOX 404 opinions
    Li, C.; Sun, L.; Ettredge, M.
  • Factors influencing voluntary annual report disclosure by US, UK and Continental European multinational corporations
    Meek, G.K.; Roberts, C.B.; Gray, S.J.
  • Discretionary disclosure strategies in corporate narratives: incremental information or impression management?
    Merkl-Davies, D.M.; Brennan, N.M.
  • A broader perspective on corporate social responsibility research in Accounting
    Moser, D.; Martin, P.
  • Choosing socially responsible stocks
    Moskowitz, M.
  • The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note
    Patten, D.
  • How can corporate social responsibility activities create value for stakeholders? A systematic review
    Peloza, J.; Shang, J.
  • Does the voluntary adoption of corporate governance mechanism improve environmental risk disclosures? Evidence from greenhouse gas emission accounting
    Peters, G.; Romi, A.
  • The association between sustainability governance characteristics and the assurance of corporate sustainability
    Peters, G.; Romi, A.
  • Is environmental governance substantive or symbolic? An empirical investigation
    Rodrigue, M.; Magnan, M.; Cho, C.
  • Evolution of corporate reporting: from standard-alone corporate social responsibility reporting to integrated reporting
    Rupley, K.; Brown, D.; Marshall, S.
  • Company size and financial disclosure requirements with evidence from the segmental reporting issue
    Salamon, G.; Dhaliwal, D.
  • Earnings disclosures and stockholder lawsuits
    Skinner, D.J.
  • Symbolic or substantive document? The influence of ethics codes on financial executives' decisions
    Stevens, J.; Steensma, H.; Harrison, D.; Cochran, P.
  • CFO financial expertise and corporate social responsibility: evidence from S&P 500 companies
    Sun, L.; Rakman, F.
  • Corporate social performance and organizational attractiveness to prospective employees
    Turban, D.; Greening, D.
  • Corporate environmental reporting: a test of legitimacy theory
    Wilmshurst, T.; Frost, G.