The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that the agency wants feedback on how to reduce administrative burdens related to public companies’ earnings and quarterly reports.
The securities regulator will accept comments for 90 days on the nature and timing of disclosures that reporting companies must provide in their quarterly Form 10-Q reports, including when the Form 10-Q disclosure requirements overlap with the disclosures such companies voluntarily provide to the public in earnings releases furnished on Form 8-K.
“There is an ongoing debate regarding the effects of mandated quarterly reports and the prevalence of optional quarterly guidance,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton in a statement.
“Our markets thirst for high-quality, timely information regarding company performance and material corporate events. We recognize the importance of this information to well-functioning and fair capital markets. We also recognize the need for companies and investors to plan for the long term. Our rules should reflect these realities.”
In August, President Donald Trump asked the agency to look into ending quarterly reporting.
The agency also wants feedback on how it can promote efficiency in periodic reporting “by reducing unnecessary duplication in the information that reporting companies disclose and how any such changes could affect capital formation, while enhancing, or at a minimum maintaining, appropriate investor protection.”