Cost behaviour and reporting frequency during the COVID-19 outbreak

Gustav Finne, Jesper Haga, Dennis Sundvik*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

We examine the effect of financial reporting frequency on cost management decisions in crisis situations, with a focus on the COVID-19 outbreak. Using the European setting, we find that quarterly reporters exhibit greater cost elasticity relative to semi-annual reporters, meaning they had larger changes in cost for each change in sales. When allowing for cost asymmetry, we see that our results are driven by firms with decreases in sales and that quarterly reporters reduced their costs more. Additional analyses show that managerial learning and monitoring pressure might be potential channels behind the results and that there is a positive performance effect in the short run.
Original languageEnglish
Peer-reviewed scientific journalAccounting and Business Research
Volume54
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)491-520
Number of pages30
ISSN0001-4788
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28.01.2024
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article - refereed

Keywords

  • 512 Business and Management
  • cost behaviour
  • COVID-19
  • quarterly reporting
  • reporting frequency

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