The Moderator Role of Followership Style and Honesty-Humility Attitude of Financial Managers on the Impact of Social and Environmental Pressure on Aggressive Financial Reporting Behavior

Aggressive financial reporting means that the company delays reporting bad news and shows speed in reporting good news. Although sources of pressure (social pressure and corporate risk appetite) play a large role in this unethical behavior, companies' willingness to provide Aggressive financial reporting can also be influenced by a variety of factors, including psychological, sociological, and ethical motivations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of financial managers' honesty-humility and followership style (with emphasis on sources of pressure) on Aggressive financial reporting behavior.  

Data was collected using Scenario-based questionnaire, and the data analysis method was inferential. Scenario-based questionnaire was used to test the research hypotheses, taken from the research of Brink (2018) and Bishap (2017). Research time zone of 2020 and Statistical population includes financial managers. The sample of research based on Cohen (2000) table is 160 financial managers. Analysis of variance was used to test the research hypotheses.  

The results showed that decreasing the honesty-humility of financial managers, the effect of obedience pressure on aggressive financial reporting is less and the effect of aggressive risk appetite on aggressive financial reporting is greater. Also, with increasing honesty-humility of financial managers, the interaction impact of social pressure and risk appetite on aggressive financial reporting is less. In examining the moderating effect of followershipstyle, the results showed that the high tendency of financial managers to follow the style of non-critical, dependent and passive thinking, the effect of obedience pressure and the impact of aggressive risk appetite on aggressive financial reporting is greater but the interaction impact of social pressure and risk appetite on aggressive financial reporting is less..  

In sum, the results show that the interaction of social and risk appetite pressure resources on aggressive financial reporting is influenced by the modifiers of follow-up and honesty-humility of financial managers. Recognizing the factors affecting the unethical behaviors of financial managers, can be the basis for proper planning of companies in the process of attracting successful financial managers and the vigilance of board members, the audit committee in the face of suspicious behavior. This can, to some extent, prevent them from presenting aggressive financial reporting. Knowing these factors can also increase the ability of accounting professionals to detect and prevent fraud. The potential for aggressive financial reporting stemming from social pressures from superiors and peers should also be of interest to an organization’s auditors and audit committee, since both pressures may lead to management override of controls or collusion, which are inherent limitations of any internal control system. Thus, it is imperative for auditors and audit committees to be aware of the presence and possible effects of social pressures and to create mechanisms that increase awareness of, and effectively alleviate, the negative influence of such pressures.