Testing the influence of factors on the timeliness of financial reporting – Empirical evidence of Vietnamese listed enterprises

Financial reporting of enterprises has important implications for information users. The timely provision of financial reporting by enterprises helps investors to make appropriate business decisions. The purpose of the paper is to test the influence of the factors on the timeliness of financial reporting of the Vietnamese listed enterprises. The timeliness of financial statements is determined by the total number of days of difference between the date of signing the audit report and the end of the financial year. The sample includes the top 100 best-listed enterprises of the Vietnamese stock market. The paper uses time series with panel data. The data are collected from annual and financial reports for the period from 2016 to 2020. The paper performs quantitative research to test the hypotheses. The results verify two factors, such as return on equity and audit type, have a negative effect on the timeliness of financial reporting. Audit type has the most influence on timeliness. Research also shows some listed enterprises have not yet complied with regulations on timely information disclosure. The paper proposes some appropriate policies for Vietnamese listed enterprises to ensure the timeliness of information.