Market Reactions to XBRL-Formatted Financial Information: Empirical Evidence from China

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) facilitates the efficient processing/interpreting of corporate financial information by investors. This paper examines market reactions to financial statement filings in China in the period before and after the XBRL mandate in China to assess the extent to which XBRL may impact the processing of financial information. It finds that absolute price reactions of financial statement filings are larger (smaller) in the post-XBRL (pre-XBRL) period. This result holds for the cumulative 3-day window surrounding filings, as well as for each individual day during the event window. This paper also finds similar results for the average volume of trading around these event windows. Consistent with its expectations, its findings suggest XBRL financial statements play a significant role in investors’ decision making process. Market Reactions to XBRLFormatted Financial Information: Empirical Evidence from China