Managerial Decisions On Annual Earnings Announcement Timing

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mid-to-long term impacts of Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) on managerial decisions of annual earnings announcement dates. Empirical results indicate a significant negative effect of Regulation FD on the timing of firm’s information disclosure: first, the annual earning releasing time is delayed for both open-call and close-call firms after Regulation FD; second, an unexpected delay in earnings releasing is pronounced for closed-call firms than for open-call firms in the pre-FD period; moreover, a significant difference in disclosure timing made between the open-call and close-call firms does not disappear in the post-FD period. Our finding provides additional evidence of the unintended consequence of Regulation FD: a delay in annual earnings releasing time.