The ongoing debate surrounding quarterly earnings disclosures has traditionally been framed as a tug-of-war between corporations seeking operational flexibility and investors demanding transparency and accountability. However, the question extends far beyond the boardroom and trading floor. Any alteration to the current system of quarterly reporting has the potential to reverberate across an extensive professional ecosystem—composed not only of executives and institutional investors, but also of thousands of white-collar employees whose livelihoods depend on the intricate machinery of financial reporting. Within this ecosystem, attorneys draft compliance documents, communications specialists craft carefully calibrated narratives for shareholders and the press, and data providers synthesize raw results into usable insights for Wall Street analysts. In short, what might initially appear as a technical policy adjustment could, in fact, set in motion profound consequences for entire sectors of knowledge workers.
This tension came into sharper focus when, on a Monday morning, President Donald Trump publicly urged the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reexamine whether reducing the frequency of mandatory corporate earnings statements would be beneficial for American businesses. He argued on Truth Social that fewer reporting obligations would simultaneously curtail unnecessary expenses and liberate senior managers to concentrate more fully on the long-term operational health of their enterprises, rather than on short-term reporting cycles. In contrast with his frequently volatile and divisive trade policies, this particular proposal drew notable support from within corporate America. Indeed, when Trump initially broached the issue in 2019, the Nasdaq Exchange surveyed 180 companies and discovered that an overwhelming 75% of the respondents favored transitioning from quarterly to semi-annual reporting, a finding documented in the SEC’s public records.
The enthusiasm from executives stems chiefly from the significant resources required to prepare each quarterly earnings release. Producing one report can consume several weeks of concentrated effort from large teams encompassing legal departments, accountants, investor-relations professionals, and corporate communicators. To put the scale in perspective, the Nasdaq study recorded that companies devoted an average of over 850 employee-hours per quarter exclusively to earnings preparation—equivalent to more than two full workweeks per member of a ten-person team. The direct monetary costs are equally striking: average quarterly spending amounted to approximately $335,000, with certain firms citing costs as high as $7 million. Importantly, however, these funds do not simply vanish; they sustain thousands of high-skilled jobs, even as such roles face pressures from artificial intelligence automation and a sluggish economy. Therefore, if the corporate sector and sympathetic policymakers such as Trump were to prevail in reducing mandated reporting, one must ask: what would the consequences be for the array of professionals who constitute the scaffolding of the earnings-reporting edifice?
Business Insider sought answers by interviewing informed experts and reviewing the extensive commentary submitted to the SEC in 2019, when it solicited public and corporate opinions on the advantages and drawbacks of less frequent reporting. A major takeaway emerged: paring down requirements would not necessarily translate into less work for companies’ internal teams. Investor-relations specialists and corporate communications professionals play a vital role in structuring not just the dissemination of raw financial data, but also in shaping a coherent narrative around a company’s performance, risk management, and strategic outlook. According to Matthew Brusch, president of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), investors’ insatiable demand for information will not diminish simply because formal obligations are reduced. Reflecting on his own professional experience in investor relations, Brusch observed that investors consistently crave more detail, not less, and predicted that numerous firms would continue to provide quarterly updates voluntarily, even if semi-annual disclosures became the legal standard.
Paradoxically, diminishing formal reporting could even generate new opportunities for Wall Street research analysts. These professionals, tasked with interpreting corporate data and issuing investment recommendations, might see their analytical insights become even more valuable in an environment with fewer obligatory disclosures. Evidence from a 2018 survey conducted by the CFA Institute supports this: over 80% of participating investors warned they would find it increasingly difficult to access relevant information if reporting requirements were relaxed, and most affirmed that the long-term advantages of quarterly disclosures outweighed the burdensome costs to companies.
Nevertheless, the individuals who stand to reap the greatest benefit from fewer filings, at least in theory, would be chief executive officers, chief financial officers, and other senior leadership. With a month or more of collective hours saved each year, top executives could redirect their focus toward broader strategic tasks—from raising capital to pursuing innovation or steering company culture. Yet industry veterans caution that the reality may not mirror this theory. Citing practices in the European Union and other jurisdictions that legally permit semi-annual reporting, experts pointed out that many companies continue producing voluntary quarterly updates, recognizing the practical necessity of ongoing performance evaluation. As Sandy Peters, a senior leader at the CFA Institute, observed with irony: it is implausible to believe that corporate management would choose to evaluate its business fundamentals only once every six months.
While senior management may experience negligible change, some categories of professionals stand to lose considerably if quarterly reporting diminishes. Among the most vulnerable are external consultants, corporate lawyers, and auditors who are often retained on a project basis during earnings preparation windows. The Society for Corporate Governance highlighted this concern in its 2019 submission to the SEC, noting that the diversion of internal resources, combined with additional legal and accounting fees, represented one of the most significant and costly burdens tied to quarterly reporting. For many member companies, audit fees alone ranked near the top of recurring expenses.
Another sector positioned to feel significant ripple effects is the financial data industry. Companies that specialize in synthesizing, analyzing, and repackaging corporate financial statements rely heavily on the steady cadence of quarterly disclosures. On professional networks such as LinkedIn, alternative data experts speculated whether less frequent reporting might enhance demand for their services. Daniel Goldberg, an independent consultant who once served as Chief Data Strategy Officer at Coresight Research, suggested that semi-annual reporting could drive greater appetite for real-time alternative data, as hedge funds and institutional investors seek other sources of transparency. Yet Goldberg simultaneously cautioned that fewer reporting events could reduce predictable trading catalysts, thereby complicating hedge funds’ pursuit of alpha—the excess return above market benchmarks. Additional commentary from Rado Lipus, founder of Neudata, underscored the continued reliance of hedge funds on traditional earnings-related data products, such as consensus estimates and sentiment analysis derived from earnings call transcripts. Ravenpack, for example, markets tools designed to evaluate executive language in earnings calls with natural language processing algorithms.
Ultimately, the most immediate consequences of a systemic shift away from quarterly reporting could fall upon hedge funds themselves. As Marc Greenberg, a former Point72 executive now running training programs for finance professionals, bluntly put it: earnings season remains the prime window for hedge funds to generate outsized profits. Reducing this frequency would fundamentally alter the landscape of trading strategies designed around short bursts of disclosure-driven volatility.
In sum, what at first glance seems like a bureaucratic adjustment designed to improve corporate efficiency is, in reality, a deeply complex issue intertwining capital market mechanics, investor expectations, and the livelihoods of an expansive professional workforce. While semi-annual reporting might free executives to think more strategically and save companies significant expenditures, it also risks destabilizing industries that depend on the quarterly rhythm of financial disclosure. Thus, the debate over earnings reports is not merely an abstract policy question but an economic and human dilemma, in which efficiency must be weighed carefully against transparency and employment.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/quarterly-earnings-trump-sec-accountants-lawyer-investor-relations-job-impact-2025-9
