The timing effect of earnings announcement on stock returns of companies quoted at the Nairobi stock exchange.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determines whether there is any systematic relationship between the timing or earnings announcement (whether late or early) and the kind of earnings news (good or bad) and further to evaluate the effects of reporting lag on stock returns of companies listed in the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE). The study covered five years from 1997 to 200 1. Secondary data obtained from the NSE secretariat was used in the research. The previous year's earnings and moving average model were used to estimate earnings and the earnings announcement dates every year. This was compared with the actual earnings and announcement dates every year to classify the companies as late reporting or early reporting and as reporting good news or bad news. Chi square test was used to test if there is a significant relationship between earnings and the kind of news reported. To test if a lag in reporting have a negative effect on the stock returns, the market model was used to estimate the expected stock returns during the period surrounding the earnings announcement dates. The cumulative residual returns of late reporting and early reporting firms were compared using F test and Man Whitney U test. The results of the study shows that in Kenya, contrary to the findings of other researches done in other capital markets, there is no systematic relationship between reporting time and the earnings news and a delay in reporting does not have any significant effect on the stock returns of companies quoted.