SEC to Consider Getting Rid of Quarterly Financial Reporting (1)

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it will weigh President Donald Trump’s push to move public companies’ reporting schedule from quarterly to semiannual.

“At President Trump’s request, Chairman Atkins and the SEC is prioritizing this proposal to further eliminate unnecessary regulatory burdens on companies,” an SEC spokesperson said Monday.

The Long-Term Stock Exchange, a securities exchange that launched in 2020, plans to petition the agency in the next couple of weeks to change the reporting schedule from what’s been a standard US approach for more than a half-century.

Trump endorsed less frequent reporting in a social media post Monday. His first administration also considered the idea, which is seen in the business community as a way to cut overhead costs for public companies.

If implemented, the rule would mark another deregulatory action from Trump’s SEC. The agency this year under Chairman Paul Atkins has already rolled back more than a dozen rules proposed during the Biden administration and made it easier for companies to keep certain shareholder proposals off company ballots at annual meetings.

The change would likely come through a formal rulemaking process, which includes a proposal, public comment period, and review. Mentions of the initiative didn’t show up in the SEC’s regulatory agenda released in August, though the agency did allude to a proposal “to rationalize disclosure practices.”

The SEC mandated companies to report quarterly in 1970 amid a longstanding campaign to increase transparency.