The effects of manager market competition and manager cash compensation on financial fraud among listed companies in China

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the financial crises influence the effects of the market competition and manager cash compensation on the likelihood of listed firms’ fraudulent financial reporting in China. I employ the logistic regression model to analyze a very large sample of 1088 Chinese listed firms from year 2008 through 2018. The main findings are as follows: first, the manager market competition is negatively associated with the probability of committing fraud. Second, the manager cash compensation is negatively related to the likelihood of financial fraud. These findings suggest that after several financial crises in China, (1) strong manager market competition can regulate Chinese top managers effectively; (2) higher cash compensation and a good reputation mechanism can provide a kind of stimulation for top managers in order to deter financial fraud.