貪婪向來被視為自利個體的動機和行為指南，在商業環境中，具有貪婪特質的公司管理階層更有可能著重追求自己利益，而非追求公司利益最大化，進而阻礙公司遠期投資目標，亦可能做出具風險的決策或欺詐的舞弊行為，加劇代理成本問題。而財務報表係用以表彰該公司之財務狀況及獲利能力，可作為報表使用者決策的參考依據，在財務報表中又以盈餘數據最受重視，蓋其被廣泛的應用在設計薪酬獎勵制度、評價經理人績效、估算公司價值及未來前景上，則擁有較高盈餘品質之財務報表往往能提供更多關於公司財務績效特徵的訊息。從而，當公司管理階層的薪酬與公司績效密切相關時，可能會促使貪婪的管理階層為了自身利益而操縱公司收益或損失認列、進行盈餘管理，進而降低了財務資訊的真實性及財務報告品質，且CFO乃公司內最高層的財務專業主管，負責制定公司的財務計劃，並提出公司財務報告及相關財務資訊，實與公司財務報表品質密不可分。據此，本研究主張CFO之貪婪程度與公司財務報導品質呈負相關。本文以2006年至2023年間的美國上市公司（不含於金融、保險及證券業）做為研究樣本，實證研究結果發現，公司CFO貪婪與公司盈餘管理程度呈顯著正相關，顯示CFO貪婪特質對公司財務報告品質具有負面影響。另本文發現未來成長性較低之公司CFO若具有貪婪傾向，會傾向進行更多的盈餘管理，將加劇對公司財務報告品質的負面影響。此外，本文亦加入CFO是否為女性、CFO是否兼任公司董事、CFO薪酬之自然對數以及CFO相對薪酬權力作為控制變數再行驗證，堪認實證結果應屬穩健。

Greed has long been recognized as a fundamental driver of self-interested behavior, and managers who exhibit greedy traits are more inclined to pursue personal interests at the expense of firm value maximization, thereby undermining long-term investment objectives and magnifying agency costs through risk-laden decisions or fraudulent conduct. Because earnings figures are pivotal for executive compensation design, managerial performance evaluation, and firm valuation, greedy executives whose pay is tightly linked to accounting results have stronger incentives to manipulate revenue recognition or expense deferral, impairing the reliability of financial information and overall reporting quality. As the most senior financial officer, the chief financial officer (CFO) is responsible for financial strategy and statement preparation, so the CFO’s personal attributes are inherently connected to reporting quality. Drawing on a sample of U.S. publicly listed, non-financial firms from 2006 to 2023, this study finds that CFO greed is significantly positively related to discretionary accruals, indicating greater earnings management and lower reporting quality, with the effect more pronounced in firms with weaker growth opportunities. These findings remain robust after controlling for CFO gender, board membership, the natural logarithm of CFO compensation, and the CFO’s relative compensation power, underscoring the negative influence of greedy CFOs on the quality of corporate financial reporting.

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