Original Research

The relative information content of audited and unaudited financial data releases

R. F. Knight, J. F. Affleck-Graves
South African Journal of Business Management | Vol 18, No 2 | a1000 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v18i2.1000 | © 2018 R. F. Knight, J. F. Affleck-Graves | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 22 October 2018 | Published: 30 June 1987

About the author(s)

R. F. Knight, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, South Africa
J. F. Affleck-Graves, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Full Text:

PDF (324KB)

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study which empirically investigates the relative information content of the three statutory reports required in terms of the Companies Act (1973) (viz. the interim report, the preliminary report and the annual report) in the context of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The relative information content of audited and unaudited data releases was likewise evaluated in this setting. The results presented indicate that the three statutory reports referred to each have significant information content although the PR appears to have a significantly larger information content than the others. Surprisingly, audited data do not appear to have a significantly different information content than unaudited data. A possible explanation which is tentatively offered is that audited data releases tend to be far less timely than unaudited data releases and this feature may result in a decaying of the former's incremental information content, if indeed any exists.

Keywords

No related keywords in the metadata.

Metrics

Total abstract views: 1447
Total article views: 588

 

Crossref Citations

1. Does Lintner’s dividend model explain South African dividend payments?
H.P. Wolmarans
Meditari Accountancy Research  vol: 11  issue: 1  first page: 243  year: 2003  
doi: 10.1108/10222529200300015