Research Discussion Papers, Bank of Finland
No 16/2014:
Are female CFOs less tax aggressive? Evidence from tax aggressiveness
Bill B. Francis, Iftekhar Hasan ()
, Qiang Wu ()
and Meng Yan
Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of CFO gender on
corporate tax aggressiveness. Focusing on firms that experience a
male-to-female CFO transition, the paper compares those firms’ degree of
tax aggressiveness during the pre- and post-transition periods. Using the
probability of tax sheltering, the predicted unrecognized tax benefits, and
the discretionary permanent book-tax differences to measure tax
aggressiveness, we find that female CFOs are associated with less tax
aggressiveness as compared to their male counterparts. The main findings
are supported by additional tests based on propensity score matching,
difference-in-difference tests, and tests with a female-to-male CFO
transition sample. Overall, our study establishes CFO gender as an
important determinant of tax aggressiveness.
Keywords: tax aggressiveness; tax avoidance; gender; CFO; risk-aversion; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: H26; J16; M41; (follow links to similar papers)
52 pages, July 9, 2014
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- This paper is forthcoming as:
-
Francis, Bill B., Iftekhar Hasan, Qiang Wu and Meng Yan, 'Are female CFOs less tax aggressive? Evidence from tax aggressiveness', Forthcoming: Journal of American Taxation Association.
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