Timeliness of financial reporting in emerging capital markets:Evidence from Turkey

Timely financial reporting is an essential ingredient for a well-functioning capital market. This study has two objectives. The first one is to measure the extend of timeliness of financial reporting in a developing country, Turkey. The second one is to establish the impact of both company specific and audit related factors on timeliness of financial reporting in Turkey. This study reports on the results of an empirical investigation of the timeliness of financial reports by 211 non-financial companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. The descriptive analysis indicates that 59% of the companies that prepares separate financial statements and 66% of the companies that prepares consolidated financial statements release their financial statements less than the maximum time allowed after the financial year-end. 28% of the companies that prepares separate financial statements and 16% of the companies that prepares consolidated financial statements exceeded the regulatory deadline. The multivariate regression analysis indicates that both sign of income, audit opinion, auditor firm and industry affect timeliness. The findings indicate that the companies, which report net income, have standard audit opinion, and operate in manufacturing industry release their financial statements earlier while the companies are audited by the big four audit firms report their financial statements later.