May 13, 2026
SEC Chair Atkins said that companies should determine how often they want to report publicly on their finances, in one of his first public remarks since the commission proposed allowing companies to optionally switch to reporting semiannually instead of quarterly.
“Let the market decide,” Atkins said during a Tuesday interview at the 2026 FINRA Annual Conference.
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Optionality
Though Atkins has made clear his desire for companies to make fewer disclosures, the proposal rule would leave it up to companies to decide if they report quarterly or twice a year.
According to Laura Posner, a partner in Cohen Milstein’s securities litigation and investor protection practice, the potential for companies to have different reporting periods then their peers, or switch between quarterly and semi-annual reporting, could make comparisons complicated for investors.
She says a reduced amount of information available to investors could damage confidence in financial markets and contribute to market volatility.
“This is not what companies want, it’s not what investors want and it’s not what is good for the markets,” Posner says.
Read Atkins: ‘Let the Market Decide’ Frequency of Corporate Financial Reporting.