Earnings Announcement Lags and Market Responses-Does the Tone of the News and the Market Sentiment Matter?

We investigate earnings announcement lags (period from the end of the reporting period until the announcement date) for the good and the bad quarterly earnings news across different market sentiment periods as well as market reactions thereto. Companies listed on Baltic stock exchanges exhibit clear signs of strategic timing of earnings announcements. Earnings announcement lags for the bad news tend to be longer than those for the good news. This difference is more pronounced during low market sentiment periods. If the release of the bad news is postponed, abnormal return responses remain lower, as expected.