Do women engage in less earnings management than men?: the case of French SMEs.

Summary This study investigates the impact of CEO gender on earnings quality for private SMEs. Using a 2012 sample of 30,476 French SMEs, we first provide evidence that SMEs manage earnings: the average value of discretionary accruals is above 9 percent of total assets. In accordance with our gender hypothesis, we show that firms run by female CEOs engage in less earnings management than firms run by male CEOs. In addition, firms with women in top management report better earnings quality. Finally, we also consider CEO age and find that this variable is negatively correlated with the magnitude of accruals. However, the effect of gender remains significant.