Does CFO accounting expertise matter to corporate social responsibility disclosure in 10-Ks?
Journal of Applied Accounting Research
ISSN: 0967-5426
Article publication date: 3 June 2021
Issue publication date: 7 October 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to understand the role of accountant in corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors examine whether and how chief financial officer (CFO) accounting expertise and previous work experience influence voluntary CSR disclosure, using textual analysis and natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The authors find that firms' CFOs with accounting expertise disclose more CSR issues in their 10-K reports. Overall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to investors and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.
Findings
Overall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to practitioners and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.
Research limitations/implications
There is an inherent limitation of textual analysis as the tool tries to read key words from the text.
Practical implications
This finding is useful for policy maker and investors as CSR is known to have impact on the share price.
Originality/value
This paper is the first attempt to find out accountants' role in CSR activities, which has not been examined in the prior literature.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge partial financial support from the David Whitcomb Center for Research in Financial Services of Rutgers University.
Citation
Guo, J., Kim, S., Yu, Y. and Kim, J.Y.(J). (2021), "Does CFO accounting expertise matter to corporate social responsibility disclosure in 10-Ks?", Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 800-822. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAAR-07-2020-0137
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited