Timeliness of Facts

The timeliness of economic statements, annual reports, regulatory filings, and accounting-related press releases varies dramatically by nation. Whereas quarterly financial reporting is a commonly accepted practice within the United States, this is not usually the case elsewhere. Economic reporting lags can also be estimated by comparing a company’s fiscal year-end with its audit report date. The latter is normally thought to be a reasonable indication of when corporate economic information and facts first becomes publicly out there. For Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States, this reporting lag reportedly averaged amongst 30-60 days. It averaged 61-90 days in Argentina, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe. In Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Malaysia, N geria, and Sri Lanka, information and facts lags averaged 91-120 days.
And for Pakistan, the average lag exceeded 120 days. Frost documents additional international variations inside the timeliness of earningsrelated press releases.26 She defined disclosure lags because the common variety of days among a company’s fiscal year-end and the date of the press release. These lags had been 73 days for businesses domiciled in France, 82 days for Germany, 46 days for Japan, 72 days for the United Kingdom, and 26 days for the United States. Variability in the timeliness of accounting information and facts places extra burdens on readers of foreign monetary statements. This burden is specifically pronounced for firms whose operating circumstances are changing as time passes. Meaningful valuations call for continual updates of reported numbers employing each traditional and unconventional indicates.