Prior research finds that women receive lower salaries than men. Similarly, we show that female audit partners in Belgium receive significantly lower compensation than male partners. However, there are alternative explanations for the pay gap other than gender discrimination. For example, the...

We identify differences in performance measurement precision between jobs within the same firm as an important, yet previously unidentified, source of pay dispersion. Downes and Choi (2014) conclude in their review of prior research that pay dispersion will not cause employees to withhold effort...

How informative is a firm's voluntary disclosure of its gender diversity? We focus on the FTSE 350 and exploit a 2017 UK regulation that mandates public disclosure of detailed gender pay gap ("GPG") data. Using a firm's GPG revealed post-mandate to proxy for the firm's true gender diversity, we...

We examine whether pay differentials between the chief executive officer (CEO) and vice presidents (VPs) can be explained by firms’ strategic priorities. We find that firms that pursue prospector-type strategies have a larger CEO−VP difference in equity compensation. We argue that such a pay...

We examine the gender and racial diversity of executives participating in earnings calls, and how it evolves over time. Using transcripts of 44,956 earning conference calls of U.S. public firms from 2002 to 2014, we find that female and racial minority executives are much less likely to speak...

We examine misreporting of gender pay gap information. Beginning in 2017, the UK government mandated that UK employers report gender employment ratios and pay gaps. The mandate does not include an audit requirement and has received little regulatory enforcement. Nonetheless, supporters of the...

Previous literature on earnings management has examined the maintained hypothesis that firms barely beating earnings benchmarks are earnings manipulators with earnings before accounting manipulation otherwise slightly below their benchmarks and has implemented research designs that treat all...

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis produces a measure of aggregate corporate profits (NIPA earnings), which is an integral component of the accounting for GDP. The key advantage of NIPA earnings is rigorous determination with no earnings management and no political meddling; other advantages...

Prior research finds that women receive lower salaries than men. Similarly, we show that female audit partners in Belgium receive significantly lower compensation than male partners. However, there are alternative explanations for the pay gap other than gender discrimination. For example, the...

We ask nearly 400 CFOs about the definition and drivers of earnings quality, with a special emphasis on the prevalence and detection of earnings misrepresentation. CFOs believe that the hallmarks of earnings quality are sustainability, absence of one-time items, and backing by actual cash flows....