Masters Vs. CPA

To start, the researchers looked at several of the most readily observable characteristics of the CFOs, including age, gender, and educational background. Specifically, they examined whether the CFO had earned a CPA or business-related masters degree. The results of this first analysis were inconclusive. "They didn't tell a lot, and didn't explain accounting choices," Ge says.

More success, though, came in the researchers' findings about the statistically significant role of individual CFO styles or philosophies in accounting choices.

When it came to the use of discretionary accruals, and the amount of that usage, for instance, the difference attributable to a the individual executive's approach totaled 5.2% of total assets. Similarly, the value of operating leases varied by nearly 13% of total debt. What's more, the same finance chiefs who made greater use of operating leases also enjoyed a larger number of quarters -- about 24% more -- meeting or beating analysts' expectations.

Those findings confirm, of course, the long-held views of many finance chiefs themselves, and those who work with them. "CFOs have different tolerances for risk," says E. Peter McLean, chair of the global financial officers practice with Korn/Ferry International. And certainly, McLean adds, his or her actions, however different from those that other CFOs may have taken, must be guided by ethics and the law.