Not All Late Filers Are the Same: Distinguishing between Differences in Filing Behaviour

Thomas Selleslagh, Stefanie Ceustermans and Lara Stas
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Thomas Selleslagh: Department of Business, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
Stefanie Ceustermans: Department of Business, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
Lara Stas: Interfaculty Center for Data Processing and Statistics, Core Facility, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussel, Belgium

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-21

Abstract: This paper investigates the association between private firms’ timeliness of financial reporting and financial health by exploring firms’ reporting behaviour over a longer period of time (9 years). We show that 9% of all firms are consistently late every year and find significant differences in the association between firms’ financial health and late filing depending on their past filing behaviour. We find a negative association between firms’ financial health and late filing. However, our research also shows the opposite (i.e., positive) association for firms who were late consistently. Our results suggest that other motivations besides obfuscating bad performance might cause firms to delay the disclosure of their financial statements.

Keywords: financial reporting; timeliness; late filings; reporting delays; private firms; financial health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:10862-:d:646936

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