Delivering timely results. (Investments & Finance).

EARNINGS season seems to be never-ending at this time of year.

U.S. companies start publishing statements on their first-quarter performance just a few days after the deadline for filing reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission about the past year's results. The deluge of numbers doesn't really subside until the period for submitting quarterly reports to the SEC comes to an end in mid-May.

This year, the ink was barely dry on 2001 filings from American Express Co. and AT&T Corp. when a fellow member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Alcoa Inc., put out a press release on first-quarter results.

Alcoa's releases have signaled the beginning of earnings seasons for years. And when reports about the just-ended period start pouring into the SEC, look for United Technologies Corp. to be at the forefront.

These two companies definitely deliver financial information faster than their counterparts in the 30-stock average, based on comparisons of the timing of press releases and SEC filings for last year's third quarter and for fiscal 2001.

American Express and AT&T, on the other hand, were among the slowest in both these periods. They joined Hewlett-Packard Co. as the only companies in the Dow industrials to wait until the last possible day to submit their fiscal-year filings to the SEC.

Companies must turn in these so-called 10-K filings, known by their form number, within 90 days after each year ends. It's twice as much time as they have for quarterly reports, or 10-Qs, because the full-year figures have to be audited.

All these details shed light to the issue of timeliness of financial reporting -- one that the SEC is seeking to address by shortening the time periods for companies to submit their filings.

The agency recently published a proposed rule that would accelerate the deadline for 10-K filings to 60 days after a period ends, and the 10-Q filing deadline to 30 days. These changes would affect companies with at least $75 million of shares available for trading and at least one year of history as a public company.

Only two companies in the Dow industrials submitted fiscal 2001 reports within 60 days: United Technologies, whose products include Pratt & Whitney jet engines, Carrier air conditioners and Otis elevators; and SBC Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. provider of local-telephone service.

United Technologies' 10-K filing arrived a mere 42 days after last year ended. The company also was among the first with its fourth-quarter release, published 17 days into the new year.

American Express was the second least timely company in the Dow industrials in reporting 2001 results; AT&T was least timely. Walt Disney Co. took the longest to publish an earnings release after its fiscal year ended: 39 days.

Comparisons such as this illustrate why earnings season appears to go on forever these days. First come the statements, then the filings - and then the process begins anew. Perhaps the SEC's proposed rule changes succeed in providing some relief.