Do Narcissistic CEOs Affect Accounting Irregularities? Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract

Narcissism is related to the need for recognition. Prior studies show that narcissist behavior may influence the CEO's actions engaged in accounting numbers manipulations. This study examines the effect of CEO narcissism on accounting irregularities in Indonesia. Indonesia provides a unique setting to test this issue because narcissistic behavior is an uncommon trait in the country. Consequently, it may influence the motivation of narcissistic CEO to manipulate accounting numbers. We test the issue by measuring CEO narcissism with the characteristics of CEO's photo on the annual report. We then conduct a simple logistic regression on that proxy to the Beneish M-Score as our accounting irregularities measure. In accordance with our expectations, we find no evidence of an association between CEO narcissism and accounting irregularities. This may attribute to the fact that Indonesia's social and cultural aspects lower the incentives for individuals, including CEOs, to engage in narcissistic behavior, thereby decreasing their motivation to use accounting numbers as a venue to get attention and recognition. Interestingly, this study discovered a significant negative relationship between CEO narcissism and accounting irregularities for firms audited by BIG4 auditors. This may indicate that BIG4 auditors can significantly mitigate the intentions and activities of narcissistic CEOs in manipulating accounting numbers to get better publicity.