The Timeliness of the Botswana Parastatal Annual Reports: 1994 – 1998

Abstract

The corporate annual report is commonly used by business entities to convey information to interested persons. An important component of the report are the financial statements and the auditors report. Since the report is a primary source of information for shareholders, it is desirable that this information is provided on a timely basis. The report should also be of a quality, desirable for meaningful decisions to be made.


This study investigated the time it took parastatals in Botswana to have the annual report available. It also embarked on establishing the quality of the accounts, as indicated by the auditor's opinion report. The results suggest that on average, the Botswana parastatal required 5.35 months to avail the report. This compares unfavourably to other developed countries. However, compared to some other developed countries, the results for Botswana parastatals are impressive.


Key Words: Timeliness, Annual reports, Parastatals, Audit reports.


African Journal of Finance and Management Vol.8(2) 2000: 23-31