Accounting Digital Talent Demand and Financial Reporting Quality: Evidence from Job Posting

Abstract

This study examines whether digital skills demanded within the accounting function are associated with financial reporting quality. Using online job postings for listed firms from 2014 to 2022, I construct a firm-year proxy for accounting digital talent demand by identifying accounting vacancies that require digital skills. Firms with greater accounting digital talent demand exhibit lower accrual-based earnings management. The results hold after propensity score matching, entropy balancing, an instrumental-variable analysis, alternative earnings-management measures, and tests addressing the informativeness of job-posting text. Mechanism tests provide suggestive evidence consistent with improved cash-flow planning and investment efficiency. Cross-sectional analyses show stronger associations among firms with higher internal control quality and stronger external audit monitoring. The evidence links function-specific digital human capital to the financial reporting process.