This study attempts to add to the small body of existing literature relating Chief executive officer characteristics to earnings management. Our research was carried out on 153 French listed companies during 2008. Using discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management, we found a significant positive relationship between CEO characteristics and earnings management. This suggests that since reputed CEOs are well compensated, they are more afraid to lose thier compensation level, and their incentive to manipulate their firm's earnings therefore increases. Findings also indicate that the dual CEO-chair relationship encourages CEOs to manage earnings, particularly when CEO-chairs hold the major proportion of equity in the firm. This finding suggests that CEO-chairs use their managerial power and the freedom from control to extract private yields. Finally, we present new on the relationship between CEO expertise and earnings management, showing that expertise positively affects CEO's behavior leading to their using agressive earnings management.
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