The Growth of Information Asymmetry Between Earnings Announcements and Its Implications for Reporting Frequency

Robert Stoumbos ()
Additional contact information
Robert Stoumbos: Accounting Division, Columbia Business School, New York, New York 10027

Management Science, 2023, vol. 69, issue 3, 1901-1928

Abstract: I demonstrate that, on average, information asymmetry grows between earnings announcements and falls right after each new earnings announcement. I estimate that percent effective spreads typically grow 3.1% over the course of the inter-announcement period. I demonstrate that this inter-announcement growth in information asymmetry occurs gradually throughout the entire inter-announcement period and not just right before each new earnings announcement. This inter-announcement growth has implications for reporting frequency decisions. A semiannual reporter that switches to quarterly reporting cuts the growth time in half by cutting each semiannual reporting period into two quarterly reporting periods. As a result, it reduces information asymmetry in what would have been the second half of the semiannual reporting period. I confirm this in a European setting, showing that the average reduction in bid-ask spreads from the inter-announcement growth channel is 1.6% when firms switch from semiannual to quarterly reporting.

Keywords: information asymmetry; earnings announcements; financial reporting frequency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4408 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:69:y:2023:i:3:p:1901-1928

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().