One of the qualitative characteristics that make financial information more useful to the targeted set of users. Such information is, firsthand, assumed to be relevant and faithfully represented  (i.e., being complete, neutral and correct/ free from error). Timeliness means that such information is available to decision-makers in time and when needed in order to be able to improve their decisions. In other words, timely information can potentially impact the user’s course of action in a positive manner. In general, timely information is up-to-date at the time of use. Timeless positively correlates with novelty. The new (more novel) the information is, the more timely, and hence useful, it is.

Historical or old information, however, may still have value to decision makers, especially those who construct historical data or time series for inference of trends or evolution of a phenomenon.