Executive Summary
The Story So Far
Why This Matters
Who Thinks What?
President Donald Trump recently proposed a significant shift in corporate financial reporting, suggesting that public companies should be required to disclose earnings only every six months instead of the current quarterly schedule. The proposal, shared via a social media post on Monday, revives an idea Trump previously floated and is presented by him as a measure to save money and allow company managers to focus more on long-term operations.
The Proposal and Its Context
Trump’s suggestion aims to alter a practice that has been a fixture of Corporate America for over half a century, with quarterly reporting mandated since 1970. He stated that less frequent reporting “will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies.” While not a radical concept globally, as many public European and UK companies already report semi-annually, the timing of the proposal is seen by some analysts as consistent with Trump’s broader efforts to reshape the American economy and influence narratives around economic data.
This is not the first time Trump has advocated for such a change; he briefly pushed the idea in 2018, urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to study the shift, though no concrete action followed at that time.
Arguments For and Against
The concept of less frequent corporate disclosures has supporters beyond President Trump. Some academics and business leaders argue that “quarterly capitalism”—the intense focus on short-term results driven by quarterly reporting—exacerbates an obsession with immediate stock market performance, potentially hindering long-term value creation. Hillary Clinton, for instance, advocated for solutions to prioritize long-term growth and job stability during her presidential campaign.
However, proponents of quarterly reporting emphasize that transparent and efficient public markets rely on regular disclosures. They argue that this transparency is crucial for investors, regardless of the administrative burden it places on executives and companies. Financiers Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett, while advocating for the reduction or elimination of future quarterly earnings estimates, explicitly stated in 2018 that their views should not be misinterpreted as opposition to quarterly and annual reporting, which they deemed essential for market integrity.
Critics of Trump’s specific proposal have voiced concerns. George Pearkes, a global macro strategist for Bespoke Investment Group, commented on Bluesky that eliminating quarterly reports “would absolutely raise the risk premium for the US equity market compared to peers around the world,” calling the idea “terrible.”
Path to Implementation and Broader Implications
Any change to the reporting schedule would require approval from the SEC. A spokesperson for the SEC confirmed via email that, at Trump’s request, the agency and its Trump-appointed chair, Paul Atkins, are “prioritizing this proposal to further eliminate unnecessary regulatory burdens on companies.” Such a change would likely take months to implement.
The proposal comes amid a pattern observed by some analysts, where President Trump has displayed an impulse to ignore or reinterpret data that might negatively affect his administration’s legacy. Examples include his response to job market data in the past, his focus on inauguration crowd sizes, his comments on cruise ship passenger numbers during a public health crisis, and legal findings regarding the valuation of his real estate holdings. This context suggests to some that the push for less corporate transparency could be linked to an effort to manage potentially unfavorable economic figures, particularly as ongoing trade policies could eventually weigh more heavily on corporate earnings.
