Disclosure Timeliness Of Interim Financial Reporting: Evidence Form Chinese A-share Listed Companies

Timeliness is an important characteristic of accounting information quality. It has a close relationship between timeliness and accounting information quality. As an important periodical financial reporting, interim financial reporting plays an important role in improving accounting information timeliness. Timely disclosure of accounting information of interim financial reporting is significant to accounting information users, such as investors, creditors, security regulators and so on. Owing to the importance of disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting, this dissertation tried to do some research on disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting of Chinese listed companies. The research questions as following: how about the implementation of schedule disclosure system of interim financial reporting? Does the rule of "good news early, bad news late" exist in interim financial reporting disclosure as in annual financial reporting? What are the determinants of disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting and schedule disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting?Firstly, this dissertation used accounting information quality theory, information asymmetry theory, transaction cost theory and corporate governance theory as the theoretical basis of study of disclosure timeliness of accounting information and theoretically demonstrated the significance of timely disclosure of accounting information. Secondly, this dissertation used 2003 to 2006 yearly data of Chinese A-share listed companies to do some research on the implementation of schedule disclosure of interim financial reporting. We found that the implementation of schedule disclosure system of interim financial reporting of listed companies had improved timeliness of interim financial reporting, but changing schedule disclosure time of interim financial reporting especially delay disclosure still existed to some extent. The implementation of schedule disclosure system of interim financial reporting of listed companies failed to achieve equilibrium disclosure of interim financial reporting. The disclosure time of interim financial reporting mainly concentrated in the middle and last ten days of August. Thirdly, this dissertation used 2001 to 2006 yearly data of Chinese listed companies to do some research on the determinants of disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting. After controlling industry and annual variables and doing many robust tests, we found that the determinants of disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting including EPS, company growth, loss or not, company size, magnitude of unexpected earnings, sign of unexpected earnings, debt to assets ratio, ST or not, audit or not, company listed age, the government intervention level of the area where the company located. Similarly, this dissertation used 2003 to 2006 yearly data of Chinese listed companies to do some research on the determinants of schedule disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting. Also after controlling industry and annual variables and doing many robust tests, we found that the determinants of schedule disclosure timeliness of interim financial reporting including EPS, company growth, loss or not, company size, magnitude of unexpected earnings, sign of unexpected earnings, ST or not, audit or not, company listed age. Finally, based on above empirical evidence of this dissertation and the development status of Chinese securities market, this dissertation has put forward some suggestions to improve disclosure timeliness of interim financial reports of Chinese listed companies. The suggestions include continuing to perfect schedule disclosure system of interim financial reporting, strengthening disclosure regulation of interim financial report, comprehensive audit on interim financial report, strengthening daily information disclosure and simplifying disclosure contents and format of interim financial reporting of listed companies.