The dilemma between ethics and reputation: evidence of earnings management following CEO pay cuts for women

Lobo, Manchiraju, and Sridharan (2018) find that CEOs manipulate discretionary accruals to mitigate damage to their reputation after they experience substantial pay cuts. Extending their study, we examine whether the gender of CEOs alleviates this problem following a drastic compensation reduction. Our sample is composed of 4,130 firm-year observations. We find that female CEOs, who are generally viewed to be more ethical and risk-averse than males, engage in less earnings management following extreme pay cuts as compared to their male counterparts. Our results provide implications for market participants and governance boards related to assessing the use of compensation tools.