The Effect of Comparability of Financial Information on the Financial Reporting Timeliness with emphasis on the moderating role of stock price ambiguity

Abstract

Financial information comparability among peer firms in the same industry reflects the similarity and the relatedness of firms’ operating environments and financial reporting. The main aim of this study is surveying the effect of financial information comparability on financial reporting timeliness with emphasis on the moderating role of stock price information ambiguity. In order to achieve the goal of the research, a sample of 118 companies was selected during the period 2011 to 2020 and generalized least squares liner multiple regression method was used to test the research hypotheses. The results show that the financial reporting timeliness increases by enhancing financial information comparability and also study evidence show that this positive effect is more intense for firms with high stock price ambiguity. Efficient investment decisions are not possible without timely and comparable information. The comparability with improving the timeliness, increases the efficiency of the capital market. Also, it can be concluded from the research findings that in the conditions of stock price information ambiguity, the role of financial information comparability in the information transparency of the company environment and timely financial reporting is very important for users. Thus, the financial information comparability extensively increases the usefulness of accounting information for all users, especially in conditions of stock price information ambiguity.

Keywords

• financial information comparability
• relative valuation theory
• financial reporting timeliness
• stock price ambiguity