Abstract
We draw on Life History (LH) theory to advance research on biological and genetic factors driving manager effects on accounting outcomes. LH strategies reflect the trade-off between investing energy in improving the quality of future offspring (slow) and producing lower quality offspring immediately (fast). Fast individuals exert more risk-tolerant, impulsive and opportunistic behavior than their slower counterparts, particularly in uncertain contexts. We measure CEO LH strategies based on data on reproductive behavior (reproductive timing, number of children, number of partners, and timing of divorce). We hypothesize and find that CEOs pursuing fast LH strategies engage in more income-increasing earnings management than firms with CEOs pursuing slow LH strategies when capital is needed. The results are based on a sample of 63,442 firm-year observations from 17,230 unique Danish privately held firms from 2009-2014.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 2019 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
| Event | American Accounting Association Annual Meeting 2019 - San Francisco, United States Duration: 9 Aug 2019 → 14 Aug 2019 Conference number: 103 https://aaahq.org/Meetings/2019/Annual-Meeting/Hotel-Information |
Conference
| Conference | American Accounting Association Annual Meeting 2019 |
|---|---|
| Number | 103 |
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | San Francisco |
| Period | 09/08/2019 → 14/08/2019 |
| Internet address |