CFO/treasurer dual role: treasury, financial reporting, and audit outcomes

Purpose – This study aims to illustrate how two important theoretical constructs, upper echelons theory and cognitive resource theory, can be applied to the presence of a prominent chief financial officer (CFO)/treasurer dual role (i.e. when a CFO also holds a treasurer title simultaneously) and relevant treasury, financial reporting and audit outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 4, 899 firms from 2004 through 2019, the authors examine whether the presence of a CFO/treasurer dual role is associated with financial reporting quality, audit pricing, operating efficiency, the likelihood of receiving a going concern opinion, the frequency of management-issued earnings per share (EPS) guidance, cash flow management and investment efficiency. Findings – The authors find that firms with a CFO/treasurer dual role, when compared to non-CFO/treasurer firms with (or without) a separate treasurer, have beneficial outcomes related to audit pricing and going concern opinions. CFO/Treasurer firms issue less frequent EPS guidance, have lower operating cash flow volatility and invest efficiently (i.e. do not under- or over-invest) when compared to non-CFO/treasurer firms with a separate treasurer. The authors document only limited evidence of higher financial reporting quality for CFO/treasurer firms compared to non-CFO/treasurer firms with (or without) a separate treasurer. Originality/value – The results are consistent with the notion that firms with CFO/treasurers experience incremental benefits in relevant firm outcomes.