RT Article
T1 The roles of cynicism, CFO pressure, and moral disengagement on FIN 48 earnings management
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 185
IS 3
SP 545
OP 562
A1 West, Ashley Nicole
A1 Fleischman, Gary M.
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2023
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/185223637X
AB Archival research reports that managers often use the FIN 48 uncertain tax liability accrual to manage earnings. To assess solutions to this problem, we deconstruct the ethical and psychological reasoning that leads to FIN 48 opportunistic behavior. Hence, we employ a survey of seasoned accounting managers to assess the influences of cynicism, two measures of moral disengagement, and pressure from a CFO on the propensity to engage in FIN 48 earnings management. Specifically, we manipulate the influence of the study scenario supervisory CFO as either a latent bully or a transformational leader. While the CFO bully main effect condition enhances FIN 48 earnings management, the CFO transformational leader condition interacts with less cynical accounting managers to reduce FIN 48 earnings management. We also find that both dispositional trait and situational state moral disengagement factors independently mediate the relationship between the cynicism model antecedent and FIN 48 earnings management. Collectively, study findings provide implications for both theory and practice.
K1 Earnings management
K1 FIN 48 accruals
K1 Moral disengagement theory
K1 State and Trait moral disengagement
K1 Aufsatz in Zeitschrift
DO 10.1007/s10551-022-05210-1