The aim of this paper is to review studies of women chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) in the context of financial reporting quality. By using electronic searches and keywords to identify relevant studies, a total of 22 published studies are identified over the period 2010-2020. Based on the review, two underpinning theories have been widely used in examining the effect of women CEOs/CFOs on the quality of financial reporting, namely, risk aversion theory and gender-ethics theory. In addition, a majority of the studies documented that women CEOs/CFOs lead to more conservative reporting and higher earnings quality. The findings underscore the importance to examine the gender issue in accounting literature and established a business and management case for women to attain the top position whether as a CEO or CFO. This paper also recommends to practitioners and regulators about the effect of having women as CEOs or CFOs on financial reporting quality as women are a pool of talent that is underutilized. In addition, this paper goes beyond a classic narrative review by suggesting future research avenues to examine further such issues in order to broaden the understanding of the role of women in accounting.

This paper investigates the effect of the involvement of the board chairman in the audit committee (AC) on earnings management (EM). It examines Bursa Malaysia-listed companies with the lowest positive earnings for the years 2013 to 2015. The Modified Jones Model by Kasznik (1999) was used to determine discretionary accruals. An AC that includes its board chairman as an ordinary member is associated with greater discretionary accruals. However, a board chairman who is also the chairman of the AC does not seem to influence discretionary accruals. This paper supports the agency theory and policy-makers’ efforts to prevent board chairmen from sitting on ACs. It is the first study that uses the agency theory to describe the association between the board chairman’s involvement in the both AC and EM. This study alerts policy-makers, stakeholders and researchers to the influence of a board chairman serving on the AC in curbing EM. Furthermore, it provides empirical evidence that the majority of Malaysian companies whose board chairmen are involved in the AC appoint the chairman as an ordinary member of the AC. This indicates that executive directors may affect such actions. Hence, more policies are needed to improve AC independence.