Abstract ABSTRACT: Timeliness of annual reports is an important determinant of their usefulness. This study examines several aspects of the timeliness of earnings announcements which have implications for regulatory actions as well as for research design. The results show a considerable shortening of the reporting lag over the years. This implies that the assumption conveniently made in many "event studies" that the announcement week or month is fixed over the years is inappropriate and tends to weaken the power of the tests. The reporting lag of individual companies appears to be more related to intra-industry patterns and tradition than to company attributes. The ability of most companies to report welt ahead of the filing deadline coupled with the finding that bad news tends to be delayed might be considered in assessing the adequacy of the length of the current filing period. The price reaction to the disclosure of early earnings announcements was significantly more pronounced than the reaction to late announcements suggesting a decrease in the information content as the reporting lag increases.
Givoly et al. (Thu,) studied this question.