Title: Board gender diversity and real earnings management: the moderating role of auditor reputation

Authors: Sameh Halaoua; Sonia Boukattaya

Addresses: High Institute of Management, University of Tunis, ISG-Tunis, GEF2A Lab, Tunis, Tunisia ' High Institute of Management, University of Tunis, ISG-Tunis, GEF2A Lab, Tunis, Tunisia

Abstract: The present work aimed to shed light on the effect of board gender diversity (BGD) on real earnings management (REM) as well as the moderating role of auditor reputation in the association between BGD and REM using panel data of 1162 French non-financial firm-year observations from the SBF120 index during the period 2005-2019. Our findings show that BGD is negatively related to REM. Furthermore, we found that this relationship is more prominent in firms with higher auditor reputation mainly because highly reputable auditors aim to preserve their image and are more likely to detect earnings management activities.

Keywords: women on board of directors; REM; earnings management; auditor reputation; corporate governance; the quota law; France.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAAPE.2023.130529

International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 2023 Vol.19 No.1, pp.101 - 127

Accepted: 07 Jun 2022
Published online: 26 Apr 2023 *