The effect of CEO characteristics on financial reporting timeliness in Saudi Arabia

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of some demographic characteristics of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on Financial Reporting Timeliness (FRT) in Saudi Arabia. More particularly, this study aims to test whether or not CEO characteristics, namely, tenure, accounting financial expertise, and sociability are associated with FRT. The sample of this study consists of 119 non-financial firms listed on Tadawul Stock Exchange for a period of four years (2014-2017). We use panel regressions and two proxies of FRT. Our findings report that a long-tenured CEO is associated with timely financial reports when the IFRS transition is simultaneously considered. This result implies that companies with a long-tenured CEO reduce the period taken to prepare and disclose their financial reports in the period of IFRS transition. Our findings show that CEO accounting financial expertise is significantly associated with timely financial reporting. This result implies that companies with a CEO who is an accounting financial expert reduce the period taken to prepare and disclose their financial reports on the capital market website. Our findings also report that CEO sociability is significantly associated with timely financial reporting in all instances. This result suggests that companies with a more sociable CEO reduce the period taken to prepare and disclose their financial reports on the capital market website. This result implies that when the CEO is more sociable via social media, firms tend to be more active in disclosing their annual reports timely. Overall, findings report that CEO characteristics do matter regarding the timeliness of financial reporting. Results are robust to an alternative measure of financial reporting timeliness. Our findings should be of interest to policymakers and regulators in Saudi Arabia in formulating new policies as they need to play a role in ensuring the shorter gap of financial report delay. The findings of this research have also a practical implication for shareholders and boards of directors in selecting a new CEO by taking into consideration their accounting financial expertise and their sociability on social media. Findings of this research contribute to the growing literature by examining the effect of CEO characteristics on timely reporting in Saudi Arabia, an understudied and unique context. The present study also complements the recent literature on the determinants of financial reporting timeliness by providing evidence that the sociability and accounting financial expertise of top leaders improve the financial reporting timeliness.

How to cite this paper

 Borgi, H., Ghardallou, W & AlZeer, M. (2021). The effect of CEO characteristics on financial reporting timeliness in Saudi Arabia.Accounting, 7(6), 1265-1274.

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