Rethinking Quarterly Reporting: What President Trump’s SEC Proposal Means for Financial Storytelling

It’s easy to get stuck in the earnings routine, but the bigger opportunity lies in financial storytelling outside of results announcements.

President Trump’s recent suggestion to shift U.S. public companies from quarterly to semi-annual reporting has reignited a longstanding debate in the financial world. Beyond regulatory requirements, this idea carries significant implications—both for how companies communicate their financial story and how they engage with investors and broader market audiences. Whether or not reporting rules change, this debate emphasizes the importance of financial storytelling both during and in between earnings announcements.

The Debate: Quarterly vs. Semi-Annual Reporting

The idea of moving away from quarterly reporting is not new. Influential voices like Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett have argued that less frequent reporting could help companies focus on long-term value creation rather than short-term results and remove arduous reporting barriers that discourage smaller companies from going public. Semi-annual reporting would also align with other markets that have moved away from the U.S. quarterly reporting model such as the UK, the EU and Hong Kong. In the EU, for example, quarterly reporting is optional and there is a 50/50 split between companies choosing to report quarterly versus semiannually.

There are reasons to believe the shift would not be welcomed with open arms by U.S. investors or companies, however.

Less frequent reporting, by definition, reduces market transparency. That increases the risk that deteriorating—or accelerating—company performance would not be visible to investors for several months. The asymmetric information advantage and potential for insider trading would also increase. These factors and the uncertainty they fuel could increase stock market volatility and dampen investor demand in the absence of reassurance that the company is delivering on expectations.

Advocates of quarterly reports also believe that the “short-termism” argument is overstated, claiming that strong CEOs focus on long-term business strategy regardless of quarterly earnings cycles. Though some companies might be pleased not to have to face investors and analysts every quarter, the flip side is that financial markets might penalize any perceived reduction in management accountability and market discipline.

Just as important, many CEOs and companies rely on earnings reports to demonstrate positive growth momentum and catalysts to support a higher valuation (and lower their cost of capital). If companies were to report only twice a year, market sentiment would hinge even more on alternative data points such as news stories, analyst commentary, social media and finfluencer trends and macroeconomic forces. Similarly, there could be increased pressure from investors for interim trading updates, but these lack the regulatory rigor of formal earnings reports, exposing management to new risks.

Financial Storytelling and the Power of “In-Between” Moments

Regardless of reporting frequency, this debate serves as an important reminder of the value of a steady drumbeat of financial storytelling. Earnings reports are great for updating analysts and investors who closely follow the company on the latest numbers, but they are less than ideal for bringing to life the larger business and technological trends, longer-term vision and strategic developments that ultimately create the most value—and to tell that story to a broader audience.

Financial communications teams already face demands for financial storytelling beyond earnings through earned media, owned channels, paid content and social media. This new landscape presents new risks, but also new ways to reach investment audiences. Podcasts, video series, event platforms and Substack newsletters are cultivating and influencing highly engaged audiences, including retail and institutional investors.

Constant communication is also important because of the outsized influence of social media and retail investors on today’s markets, and with increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) by investors. This has profound implications for how information is processed and how market-moving opinions are formed compared to traditional professional markets.

U.S. retail investing volume has doubled in the past 15 years and now makes up over 20% of total trading. Studies show that 60% of Americans under 35 are making investment decisions based on social media and 20% of all respondents are interested in using AI for investment decisions. With the rising use of AI among investors and analysts, companies also need to consider the how their corporate narrative and investment story comes across in the AI summaries generated by Large Language Models as online research and investment decisions are increasingly shaped by the bots.

Key Takeaways

• It can be easy for business leaders and financial communicators to get stuck in the rhythm of earnings communications and miss out on giving investors a fuller picture of their story, but that is where the true opportunity lies.
• Successful corporate financial storytelling depends on a steady flow of information to investors that brings to life the long-term business vision and stories that illustrate the larger trends and growth opportunities.
• That story might start with earnings but bringing investors along on your financial storytelling both during and in between earnings can increase investor appreciation and influence market sentiment, valuation and confidence.