Better late than never!? : Disclosure timing behavior of German private companies

Titelangaben

Wittmann, Christian ; Bravidor, Marcus:
Better late than never!? : Disclosure timing behavior of German private companies.
2016
Veranstaltung: 39th European Accounting Association Annual Congress , 11.05.-13.05.2016 , Maastricht.
(Veranstaltungsbeitrag: Kongress/Konferenz/Symposium/Tagung , Vortrag )

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Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the determinants of disclosure timing decisions of private companies. Without capital-market pressure, lower litigation risks and higher relevance of private information channels, private firms face different cost and benefit consideration regarding their disclosure behavior than listed companies. We argue that firms delay the disclosure decision to minimize related costs. Our analysis is based on a hand-collected sample of 720 large private German companies. All firms are subject to the same mandatory disclosure rules, enforcement mechanism and sanctions. Our results show that disclosure delays are particularly pronounced for firms facing higher proprietary costs. Loss-reporting and family-owned firms show longer disclosure delays. In general, firms exhaust the legally permitted time frame. Many companies even accept fines for overrunning the disclosure deadlines. Our results have practical implications as they shed some light on the perception of indirect costs of disclosure by private companies.