Title: Interim financial reporting: how frequent should it be?

Authors: Boon Seng Tan

Addresses: Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, 60 Cecil Street, ISCA House, Singapore

Abstract: The choice of interim financial reporting frequency is a policy decision framed as the choice of quarterly or semi-annual reporting. The arguments in the debate on the frequency are position dependent. Proponents argue that quicker incorporation of firm specific information into share prices is beneficial for capital allocation and corporate governance. Opponents argue that frequent reporting induces short term behaviour. Scholarly research examines aspects of the cost or benefit rigorously, usually with supporting empirical evidence, and is sometime used in policy debate. This paper integrates the arguments of stakeholders from both sides of the debate using a cost-benefit analysis framework. Ideally, empirical analysis using the framework should be used to support evidence-based policy making.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis; CBA; interim financial reporting; price efficiency; capital investment efficiency; capital allocation; corporate governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2016.078304

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2016 Vol.7 No.2, pp.116 - 126

Received: 08 Dec 2015
Accepted: 19 Apr 2016

Published online: 14 Aug 2016 *

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