Does CEO Famine Affect Corporate Accounting Conservatism?

Recently,with the rapid development of psychology and behavioral finance,a new thought has been provided for scholars to do the research.They try to give up the Rational Man hypothesis,instead,they put the research findings of psychology into accounting subject to make people perceive and understand the accounting policy of the enterprise more adequately and practically.Looking through the development of accounting conservatism studies,the elements which affect the conservatism mainly focus on contract,law,revenue,regulation,corporate governance,earnings management,the characteristic of managers' background,the overconfidence of management etc.As for the consequence,it mainly focuses on the investment effectiveness and financing effectiveness.However,there are only a few studies about the personal experiences of CEO such as a famine which also has an effect on the accounting conservatism.Considering whether the CEO suffered from a famine in early age as a point,this thesis tries to discuss whether the subjective awareness of CEO such as psychological trait and value shaped by some significant events has an effect on the accounting conservatism.Based on Behavioral Financial theory,Upper Echelons theory and Empathy-Altruism hypothesis,together with the 23220 observations result from the research sample which consists of Chinese A-share companies during 2003-2016,the research has investigated the impact of CEO's famine experiences on the accounting conservatism.Meanwhile,in view of the big difference of feelings at different ages,the impact on accounting conservatism caused by the famine at three stages has been studied which are babyhood(born in 1959-1961),childhood(born in 1955-1958)and adolescence(born in 1949-1954).Moreover,because the degree of famine is not exactly the same in different areas and powerful CEO is more likely to turn personal will into practical policy,we have taken the degree of famine in CEO's birth place and CEO's power into consideration in order to study their regulating effects between CEO's famine experiences in early age and accounting conservatism.This thesis to study the effects on accounting conservatism which are caused by the famine experiences of CEO in listed companies,the different life stages when the famine broke forth,the degree of famine and the power of CEO.Here are the findings:(1)CEO's famine experiences in early ages enhance the accounting conservatism remarkably.(2)The impact of CEO's famine experiences on accounting conservatism is different at different life stages.There is no significant effect on accounting conservatism when a famine broke forth in his babyhood,while in childhood and adolescence,the effects are remarkable.(3)The degree of famine and the power of CEO strengthen the effects on accounting conservatism.In other words,the worse the famine is,or the more powerful the CEO is,the more significant the effects are.Tested with DID and PSM,the findings above remain valid.The significance of this thesis lies in below: first of all,this thesis which studies the effects on accounting conservatism from the perspective of CEO's early experiences,expends the horizon of research on accounting conservatism.Secondly,this thesis which perceives the effects of CEO's famine experiences in early age from the perspective of individual decision behavior,enriches the research of our country on the long-term impact of the famine especially psychological.Last but not least,the research results not only provide the basis for selecting senior executive,but also the positive policy support for living in a plain and hardworking way performed throughout the government from the perspective of micro financial policy.