Replacing the current corporate reporting cycle with real-time financial statements provided on an 'as needed' basis would enhance investor returns and confidence, according to research by ACCA.

Its survey of 300 investors found that most (85%) believe real-time data provided when asked for would improve their ability to react quickly in areas such as emerging opportunities and profit warnings, while 78% think it would enhance investment returns. In addition, 71% say it would increase their understanding of corporate performance, and 70% say that companies reporting in real-time would have an advantage in attracting investment.

Three quarters (75%) would be prepared to pay more for real-time information to be externally assured, and 73% would consider companies that report in real-time to have more robust corporate governance, while 65% say it would reduce costs of doing business with such companies.

However, almost two-thirds of investors surveyed by ACCA believed real-time reporting would create further financial instability and lead to an increased tendency to short-termism in financial markets. Most also thought an increase in market volatility was likely.

Ewan Willars, director of policy, ACCA, said: 'There would be huge questions for many audiences. Would regulators have the capacity to deal with it? Would auditors be able to move to a system of continuous, rather than periodic assurance? And would the companies themselves find they were disclosing information useful to competitors?'

The report, Understanding investors: the road to real-time reporting, identifies that companies are already coming under pressure from investors and regulators to speed up their closing process, with those that take longer than the average increasingly regarded as having inefficient systems. At the same time, developments like Big Data and the widespread use of analytics mean company finance departments and management teams are using real-time data internally.

Willars said: 'There is a huge gap between these up-to-the minute operational processes and what is being reported and assured externally, which still takes weeks or even months. How long can the increasing gulf between the speed of internal and external reporting go on? This is a debate that needs to be had.'

ACCA's report is the third in a four-part project designed to understand the investor perspective on corporate reporting which is taking place this year.