Quarterly earnings reports have anchored market transparency for decades, but that may be changing. The SEC has proposed replacing mandatory quarterly disclosures with a semiannual framework — two reports per year instead of four. The proposal is currently in a 60-day public comment period.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins framed the move as a flexibility upgrade rather than a rollback, noting that companies would still have the option to report quarterly and remain obligated to disclose material events as they occur. The broader goal is reducing compliance costs to make public markets more attractive to private companies and reinvigorate the IPO pipeline.
Supporters argue quarterly reporting quietly distorts behavior — pushing management teams to optimize for short-term results rather than durable growth. Less frequent mandated reporting, they contend, could free leadership to focus on strategy over optics.
Critics see it differently. Quarterly cadence gives investors and advisors a reliable window into performance and reducing that frequency risks obscuring early warning signs of financial stress. For advisors, portfolio reviews built around quarterly earnings cycles may need to shift toward longer-horizon narratives and fundamental theses — a change that could reinforce goals-based planning, even if it requires recalibrating how clients expect to receive information.
This wouldn’t be unprecedented. The SEC required only semiannual reporting from 1955 until 1970 (1), when quarterly mandates took effect. In many ways, this proposal revisits a framework the market operated under for 15 years.
Sources:
