Paul Atkins Backs Trump’s Call To End Quarterly Financial Reporting: Report

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins reportedly said the agency will consider President Donald Trump’s call to end mandatory quarterly earnings reports.

“We welcome the president putting this on the table,” Atkins said in an interview with CNBC. “Semiannual reporting is no stranger to our markets. Our foreign private issuers do it now, and it was actually the rule until 1970 when the SEC introduced the concept of 10-Qs.”

Trump, earlier this week, posted on Truth Social, arguing that the SEC should study whether companies should be “forced” to report results every three months instead of six, as quarterly disclosures foster short-term thinking and add unnecessary compliance costs. Atkins said the idea merits a fresh look, noting that CEOs and investors have long complained that quarterly filings divert management’s attention from long-term strategy.

The SEC chair emphasized that any change would still provide investors with protection. Companies would still be required to file 8-Ks for material events, and debt holders or banks could demand interim updates through other channels. “Investors are the boss,” Atkins said, adding that market forces could ultimately determine the cadence of disclosure.

He added that the SEC will study the proposal and weigh whether semiannual reporting can strike a balance between investor transparency and corporate flexibility. “It’s a good time to look at the whole panoply of how people get information,” he said.

U.S. equities were in the green during morning trade on Friday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was up 0.01%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) gained 0.23%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) moved 0.43% higher. Retail sentiment around QQQ on Stocktwits dipped to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ over the past day.

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