Executives' gender and firm value

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of executives' gender on the firm value of Indonesian manufacturing firms. Executives' gender is measured by the existence of women as CEOs and CFOs, and corporate value is measured by Tobin's Q. This study hypothesizes that both female CEO's and CFO's have a positive association with firm value. The sample of this research is manufacturing firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange in the period of 2016-2017. Data was collected from companies' annual reports and their websites; while financial data was obtained from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database. The results of the descriptive data showed the percentage of female CFO's in the studied sample was 19%, and the results from a panel regression indicate a positive effect on firm value. Meanwhile, women as CEOs only made up 4% of the total observed sample and the results showed that it does not affect firm value. Previous studies have produced mixed results regarding female CEO's and female CFO's on firm value. This study showed an increase in the value of the company's financial management when led by women. Some previous findings indicate that women are more responsive to moral and ethical norms. Women's ability to listen, motivate, persuade, and inspire others makes them more suitable than their male counterparts for leading financial functions. This result brings a practical implications for companies to consider women as CFOs. In addition, this research can add to the academic literature related to executives' gender and firm value.