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Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 43 No. 1 2007

Investor protection and the information content of annual earnings announcements: International evidence

Mark L. DeFond1; Mingyi Hung1,2,3; Robert Trezevant1

1 University of Southern California · 2 Chinese University of Hong Kong · 3 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

open access

Abstract

We draw on the investor protection literature to identify structural factors in the financial reporting environment that are likely to explain cross-country differences in the information content of annual earnings announcements. Using data from over 50,000 annual earnings announcements in 26 countries, we find that annual earnings announcements are more informative in countries with higher quality earnings or better enforced insider trading laws, and that annual earnings announcements are less informative in countries with more frequent interim financial reporting. We also find that, on average, earnings announcements are more informative in countries with strong investor protection institutions.

DOI
10.1016/j.jacceco.2006.09.001
Volume
43
Issue
1
Pages
37-67
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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