The Impact of Corporate Governance Factors and the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Publishing Date of Annual Reports of UK Listed Companies

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to examine the role of corporate governance structure and the COVID-19 pandemic on the issuing date of annual reporting of UK non-financial institutions. The corporate governance factors that were examined are: audit committee; board characteristics; ownership structure. To achieve the study objective, the sample’s data was collected from the financial reporting of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange during the period 2008 to 2021. To examine the effect of COVID -19, the sample was spilt into two groups: before and after 2019.  The data collected was analysed by using the panel regression random effect method; the issuing date of annual reporting was measured by counting the number of days that passed between year-end and the date of the issuing of financial reports. The study’s findings show that there is a significant relationship between board size, independency of board, audit independence, audit experience, and the issuing date of annual reports. Moreover, after splitting the study’s sample, the empirical results supported that the COVID -19 pandemic has a negative effect on the corporate governance mechanisms that enhance the issuing date of annual reports. The study extends prior studies with evidence that demonstrates a relationship between issuing date (timeliness) of annual reports and the strength of corporate governance during the COVID-19 pandemic, and consequently, these findings confirm that corporate governance factors and auditing process enhance annual reporting quality.