The effects of female executives on financial statement comparability

Abstract

AbstractThis study uses data from China to investigate the impact of female executives' proportion on a firm's financial statement comparability. We find that having female executives can improve a firm's financial statement comparability, particularly in the presence of a key female executive. Furthermore, we find that female executives improve firms' corporate governance and internal control quality, which in turn enhances financial statement comparability. Importantly, this impact exists only in large firms, non‐state‐owned firms, and firms domiciled in mature markets. Overall, our study reveals this mechanism and examines the conditions under which gender‐specific characteristics can affect corporate accounting quality.