Financial Reporting Quality and Wage Differentials: Evidence from Worker‐Level Data

ABSTRACT We examine whether financial reporting quality affects worker wages using employer‐employee matched data in the United States. We find that low financial reporting quality is associated with a compensating wage differential—that is, a risk premium—using three distinct approaches while contr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of accounting research 2023-09, Vol.61 (4), p.1109-1158
Main Authors: CHOI, JUNG HO, GIPPER, BRANDON, MALIK, SARA
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Employee turnover
Evaluation
Financial reporting
financial reporting quality
investment inefficiently
performance pay
Premiums
Risk premiums
Scandals
Strength
turnover
Unemployment
Wage differential
wage differentials
Workers
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Summary:ABSTRACT We examine whether financial reporting quality affects worker wages using employer‐employee matched data in the United States. We find that low financial reporting quality is associated with a compensating wage differential—that is, a risk premium—using three distinct approaches while controlling for worker characteristics by (1) regressing wages on firm‐year–level and firm‐level reporting quality, (2) documenting wage changes when workers switch firms, and (3) estimating a structural approach that separates reporting quality from performance‐related volatility. We find evidence consistent with two channels: performance pay and turnover risk, where workers bear risks from noise in performance measurement and unemployment, respectively. To mitigate endogeneity concerns, we show that—after the accounting scandals in 2002 and after the announcements of an internal control weakness (ICW)—former Arthur Andersen clients and ICW firms pay wage premiums to employees, with magnitudes between 0.9% and 2.8% of annual wages.
ISSN:0021-8456
1475-679X
DOI:10.1111/1475-679X.12477