The Effect of Board Gender Diversity on the Relationship between CEO Financial Expertise, CEO Tenure, and Financial Statement Fraud in Companies Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange
Keywords:
Financial statement fraud, CEO financial expertise, CEO tenure, board gender diversityAbstract
This study aims to examine the moderating role of board gender diversity in the relationship between CEO financial expertise, CEO tenure, and financial statement fraud among firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. This applied study adopts a quantitative descriptive–correlational research design. The statistical population consisted of all firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2019–2024. After applying screening criteria, a final sample of 132 companies was selected using systematic elimination sampling. Required data were extracted from audited financial statements and official capital market databases. Data processing was performed using Excel, and hypothesis testing was conducted through logistic regression analysis in EViews10. Descriptive statistics were first reported, followed by diagnostic tests including multicollinearity and serial autocorrelation assessments. Model validity was evaluated using LR and Z statistics. Control variables such as firm size, firm age, and financial leverage were incorporated to improve model robustness and explanatory power. The regression results indicated that CEO financial expertise does not have a significant negative effect on financial statement fraud. Likewise, CEO tenure showed no statistically significant relationship with fraudulent financial reporting. Furthermore, board gender diversity failed to demonstrate a significant moderating effect on the relationship between CEO financial expertise and financial statement fraud. Similarly, no significant moderating influence was observed for board gender diversity in the relationship between CEO tenure and financial statement fraud. Consequently, all research hypotheses were rejected, suggesting that neither managerial characteristics nor board gender composition significantly explain variations in financial reporting fraud within the sampled firms. The findings imply that mitigating financial reporting fraud cannot be achieved solely through managerial demographic characteristics or symbolic gender representation on boards. Instead, stronger institutional monitoring mechanisms, effective corporate governance structures, and substantive board oversight appear to be more critical determinants in preventing fraudulent reporting practices. The results highlight the importance of structural governance quality rather than individual managerial attributes in shaping financial reporting integrity in emerging capital markets.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Maryam Sadeghi (Corresponding author); Alireza Esfahanian (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
