Corporate governance and the timeliness of financial reporting: A comparative study of Kenya and Russia Book Chapter

Muhoro, J, McGee, RW, Tyler, M et al. (2009). Corporate governance and the timeliness of financial reporting: A comparative study of Kenya and Russia . 119-125. 10.1007/978-0-387-84833-4_13

cited authors

  • Muhoro, J; McGee, RW; Tyler, M; Tarangelo, T

abstract

  • It is important to report financial information in a timely fashion. The longer a company waits to release its annual report and accompanying financial statements, the more stale the information is and the less useful it is. A number of studies have been done on various aspects of timeliness in financial reporting. Those studies will not be summarized here but a listing is provided in the reference section for further research. Various organizations have cited the importance of timely financial reporting. The Accounting Principles Board (1970) addressed the issue in one of its statements. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2004) lists it as an important principle of corporate governance. The World Bank has conducted more than 40 studies on corporate governance in various countries that have included a look at their financial reporting practices, including timeliness. However, Kenya was not among the countries studied. The present study replicates studies that have measured the timeliness of financial reporting in Russia (McGee, 2006, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c, 2008; McGee & Gunn, 2008; McGee & Tarangelo, 2008; McGee & Tyler, 2008; McGee, Tarangelo, & Tyler, 2008; McGee, Tyler, Tarangelo, & Igoe, 2008; McGee, Yuan, Tyler, & Tarangelo, 2008), China (McGee & Yuan, 2008a, 2008b; McGee et al., 2008; McGee, Igoe, Yuan, Tarangelo, & Tyler, 2008), and the European Union (EU) (McGee & Igoe, 2008; McGee et al., 2008; McGee et al., 2008). Those studies found that Russia and China take longer to report financial information than do either the USA or the EU, but that there is no statistical difference between the time it takes for new EU members to report financial information and the time it takes old EU members to do so. This is one of the first empirical studies, to our knowledge, that has been conducted on the timeliness of financial reporting in an African country. Thus, there is a gap in the literature that needs to be filled. The purpose of the present study is to partially fill that gap. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009.

publication date

  • December 1, 2009

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 13

start page

  • 119

end page

  • 125