Paul Atkins, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said that after calling President Donald Trump, his agency would propose a change of rule to change the quarterly winning reports to a semi -annual schedule.
“I greet this posting by the president and talked to him about it,” said Atkins on Friday in CNBCS “Squawk Box”. “In principle, I think that they would propose a change in our rules, I think that there is a good way forward, and then we will consider it and then go forward.”
Atkins said that if the change of rule is approved, it is up to the company to decide whether they change to six months or stay at quarterly.
“For shareholders and public companies, the market can decide what is the right cadence,” he said.
In the case of current regulations, listed companies must report the profit quarterly, although the provision of forecasts is voluntary. At the beginning of this week, Trump campaigned to switch to a semi -annual schedule and said that it would “save money and allow managers to concentrate on doing their companies properly”. The rules can only be changed by a majority of the SEC, in which the Republicans currently have a 3-1 majority with an open place.
The problem was gotten into heated debates, since opponents argue that the lack of transparency for investors, in particular retail investors who do not have as sufficient resources as Wall Street institutions, would be a disadvantage. Followers say that a six -month report plan from companies would cause companies to concentrate their business in the long term.
Atkins noticed that foreign private issuers already comply with every six months. At the beginning of this year, the sovereign assets in Norway proposed to switch to the six -month reporting, and the reason that the extension of the time frame would enable companies to concentrate in the long term. The long-term exchange trading platform has also supported less frequent reporting.
“You have to realize that at the moment a six -month reporting in our markets is no stranger to do foreign private issuers at the moment,” said Atkins. “In recent years there have been many discussions about how this quarterly reporting emphasizes a short -term way of thinking.”
