This paper examines and compares the role of male financial experts (MFEs) and female financial experts (FFEs) of the Audit Committee (AC), on sustainability performance using a sample of listed firms in the United States from 2010 to 2021. The results show that although both MFEs and FFEs influence sustainability performance, FFEs have statistically greater influence than MFEs. The results also show that FFEs have greater influence across all three pillars of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance. Further analyses suggest that if an AC has single-gender financial expertise (only MFEs or only FFEs), this is detrimental to the firm's sustainability performance. The results also show that although having a gender-diverse AC is beneficial, the benefit is greater if the females on the AC are financial experts. These results may partly explain the inconclusive findings of earlier studies on the influence of financial expertise on sustainability performance. The results remain consistent under a battery of robustness tests. Overall, the study highlights the need for ACs to have diverse financial experts from the perspective of non-financial reporting and adds to justifications for increasing calls for diversity on boards.

本文使用 2010 年至 2021 年美国上市公司样本，检验和比较了审计委员会 (AC) 的男性金融专家 (MFE) 和女性金融专家 (FFE) 在可持续发展绩效方面的作用。结果表明尽管 MFE 和 FFE 都会影响可持续性绩效，但 FFE 在统计上比 MFE 具有更大的影响力。结果还表明，FFE 在环境、社会和治理 (ESG) 绩效的所有三大支柱中具有更大的影响力。进一步的分析表明，如果 AC 拥有单一性别的金融专业知识（仅 MFE 或仅 FFE），这将不利于公司的可持续发展绩效。结果还表明，虽然拥有性别多样化的 AC 是有益的，但如果 AC 中的女性是金融专家，则好处会更大。这些结果可能部分解释了早期关于财务专业知识对可持续性绩效影响的研究的不确定结果。在一系列稳健性测试下，结果保持一致。总体而言，该研究从非财务报告的角度强调审计委员会需要拥有多元化的财务专家，并为增加董事会多元化的呼声提供了理由。