The SEC has proposed letting public companies report earnings every six months instead of every quarter, citing cost savings and long-term thinking, and drew a record 280,000-plus comments, over 99% opposed, most from ordinary investors.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission wants to change a rule that has been in place for more than fifty years: public companies must disclose their results every three months, and the agency proposes letting them report just once every six months instead. The stated reasons sound respectable: spend less, stop fixating on the next set of numbers.
280,000 letters, written by ordinary people
The requirement dates to 1970. When the proposal opened for public comment in May 2026, letters poured in, more than 280,000 of them, the vast majority opposed. For comparison, one study of 417 separate proposals over 30 years counted 65,000 letters in total.
What are the objectors worried about? Moving from quarterly to semi-annual reporting means going half a year without knowing how a company is doing. One commenter said her husband had worked at Enron and they lost most of their retirement savings when the fraud came out. Another compared quarterly reporting to a child's report card: a good teacher spots trouble and corrects course long before the card is issued, and investors do not have that luxury.
The savings may not cover the higher cost of capital
The SEC says the change would save each company roughly $200,000 a year. That sounds like money, but for a typical public company it is a rounding error.
The real issue is this: the less transparent a company is, the less certain investors feel, and the higher the return they demand to compensate. That makes it more expensive for the company to sell shares, borrow or issue bonds. Industry groups and asset managers made exactly this point in their letters: the savings could be offset or outweighed by a higher cost of capital.
As for the companies themselves, drugmaker Eli Lilly has already said it would prefer to report less often, and 58% of members surveyed by an industry lobby said they would switch. Whether they can depends on the commission's final vote.
In one line: retail investors are not annoyed by quarterly reports, they are afraid of being the last to hear bad news.
Why it matters
If this rule goes through, it will not just affect Wall Street but millions of 401(k)s and retirement accounts — ordinary investors are voting against it with real money on the line. It points to a broader pattern: when regulators loosen disclosure in the name of cutting corporate costs, the price of information asymmetry is usually paid by whoever finds out last.
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