President Donald Trump has called for an end to quarterly earnings reports, suggesting that companies should report financial results every six months instead of every three. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said securities regulators should change the current system, which has been in place since 1970.
“This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies,” Trump wrote.
Trump previously asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to consider moving from quarterly to semi-annual reporting during his first term as president, but no changes were made at that time.
Supporters of less frequent reporting argue that quarterly requirements are expensive and time-consuming. They also believe it discourages companies from going public and leads executives to prioritize short-term earnings over long-term planning. The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), which encourages companies to focus on long-term performance, recently announced plans to petition the SEC for a rule change that would require semi-annual earnings reports while still allowing optional quarterly filings.
“This petition takes a critical step toward enabling genuinely long-term companies to focus on sustainable growth rather than quarterly noise,” said Maliz Beams, LTSE’s CEO.
Opponents of the proposal say that regular updates help investors stay informed about company performance and potential risks. A 2024 report by David S. Koo, assistant professor of accounting at George Mason University’s Donald G. Costello College of Business, noted that more frequent reporting gives investors better context for evaluating a company’s health and outlook. Koo explained that the SEC adopted quarterly reporting after World War II because some firms concealed shrinking profits during economic downturns when only semi-annual reports were required, harming investors.
