• Former President Trump has reiterated his call to eliminate mandatory quarterly financial reporting for public companies, arguing it would reduce regulatory burdens and encourage long-term planning.
  • The SEC has not amended reporting regulations as of Q2 2025, but the proposal has reignited debate among policymakers, investors, and corporate leaders.
  • The push occurs amid broader U.S. regulatory flux, including executive orders affecting climate disclosures and new FASB standards on tax disclosures set for 2025.

Former President Donald Trump has again called for U.S. companies to be freed from the obligation of reporting financial results every quarter, thrusting a long-simmering debate over corporate short-termism back into the spotlight. The proposal, which argues that less frequent reporting would ease regulatory pressure and foster a longer-term strategic outlook, faces significant opposition from investors who rely on regular disclosures for market transparency.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has not initiated any formal rulemaking to change the existing quarterly framework, people familiar with the matter say the discussion is gaining traction within certain business circles and among policymakers sympathetic to deregulation. The U.S. regulatory environment remains in a state of significant flux, with the Trump administration also issuing executive orders that target other disclosure mandates, particularly around climate and sustainability.

“The push for semi-annual reporting isn’t happening in a vacuum,” said one policy advisor who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions. “It’s part of a broader effort to reduce what is perceived as administrative overreach, but it directly conflicts with the market’s demand for timely information.” The advisor noted that any substantial change would require a lengthy SEC process, including public comment periods, making immediate action unlikely.

The debate sharply divides corporate leaders and investors. Many CEOs have publicly supported the idea, contending that the relentless quarterly earnings cycle forces managers to prioritize short-term stock performance over sustainable growth. Major investor groups and analysts, however, have raised alarms, warning that reducing reporting frequency would diminish transparency, increase information asymmetry, and potentially hide corporate problems until they become crises.

This is not the first time the issue has surfaced. In 2018, Trump tweeted his support for moving to a semi-annual system, which prompted an SEC review that ultimately concluded by affirming the status quo. The practice of quarterly reporting became standard in the 1970s and is now a cornerstone of modern market surveillance and equity research.

Internationally, the EU has been actively working to streamline and, in some cases, reduce corporate reporting burdens, particularly in the realm of sustainability. This has created a divergent regulatory landscape, with U.S. directions appearing increasingly fragmented between federal and state-level approaches. The Financial Accounting Standards Board, for its part, has remained focused on its own standard-setting agenda, including new income tax disclosure standards effective in 2025.

For now, publicly traded companies must continue to prepare their 10-Qs. But with the debate resurfacing at a high level, corporate finance departments and audit committees are once again weighing the potential implications of a less frequent reporting world. A spokesperson for a major business lobbying group said they are “closely monitoring the dialogue” but declined to comment on the record. Requests for comment from the SEC were not immediately returned.