Heres a little truth to the late filing talk strai
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Timing of NT 10-Qs
The following chart presents a frequency distribution analysis of the NT 10-Qs filed by accelerated filers, listed on a major exchange, filed between 2011 and 2013.
FINAL NT Table 1
Based on the chart above, a slight majority of companies (105 out of 201, or 52%) filed NT 10Q between 39 and 42 days after the fiscal period end.1 As with tax returns, this result is logical and expected – if you were a CFO, wouldn’t you wait until the last day before admitting that you cannot file your financials on time?
But a significant number of companies (42%) filed late NT filings. While Bartov, Defond and Konchitchki claim that some reasons for NTs are more meaningful than others, exceptions from late filing patterns can also be used as a source of important information. Filing a non-timely Non-Timely filing notification, for example, probably indicates internal control and financial reporting problems. Further, 4 unusually early filings (filed between days 28 and 31) were all filed by Herbalife (HLF), which was forced to file an NT 10Q for unusual reasons. Their 10-Q was complete and ready to go, but they didn’t have an auditor to review them. Herbalife’s previous auditor had recently resigned due to independence issues, so the company was unable to provide reviewed financial statements as required. In its NT 10-Q for the period end 3/31/2013, filed on 4/29/13 (day 29), the company wrote: