This paper examines the prevalence and benefits of upward social mobility in the early accountancy profession by analyzing the lifespan of chartered accountants admitted to membership in Scotland between 1853 and 1940. We find that 76 percent of the chartered accountants in our sample experienced upward social mobility, a greater percentage than found in previous studies. The chartered accountants in our sample experienced an average life expectancy premium of approximately three years over the general population, irrespective of social origins, and were less likely to die from most preventable causes than the general population. Upwardly mobile chartered accountants achieved lifespans consistent with their achieved professional status rather than their previous social class. While the findings confirm the existence of a social mortality gradient, the increase in longevity is likely attributable to the superior resources of higher social class and other factors affecting self-selection into the accountancy profession. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text.

We examine the role of award-winning CEOs in corporate innovative activities. We find no significant difference in innovation outputs between firms of media award-winning CEOs and a matched sample of predicted winners. However, firms headed by winners of non-media awards generate significantly more patents and citations in the second and third year after the award. Firms led by CEO-winners of media awards attract more interest in Google and see an increase in the number of financial analysts that follow them. These effects likely exert more pressure on managers to meet short-term goals and hence impede the firms’ innovation. We do not find the same effects for firms that have CEOs who win non-media awards. The latter category sees an improvement in employee treatment following the award year. These different channels explain why innovation only increases for firms that are headed by CEOs who win non-media awards.