The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on financial reporting delay : evidence from Ghana

The widespread coronavirus (COVID-19) has sparked considerable worry among businesses worldwide, including Ghana. Despite a growing body of information on market and business reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are few to no studies that have empirically examined the direct impact of COVID-19 on a firm’s financial reporting. The paper employed a panel regression model to examine COVID-19 impacts on a firm’s financial reporting delay over 3 years for 100 firms in Ghana comprising 30 listed firms and 70 private firms. The study’s empirical findings indicate COVID-19 and financial report delays have a positive and significant relationship. The study also established that the positive relationship is more pronounced for low-performing and private firms. The study recommended that a firm’s operational strategies be improved and well-coordinated during pandemics to avoid reporting and subsequent operational delays.