Quarterly or twice a year? Reporting frequency in question as Trump pushes for change

TORONTO – The long-established rule that companies report their financial results four times a year is being questioned again by U.S. President Donald Trump, but experts question the wisdom of moving to less frequent disclosures.

As he did in his first term, Trump on Monday called for the rules to be changed so that companies only have to report every six months, both to save money and so management can focus more on running their companies.

But governance expert and York University professor Richard Leblanc says quarterly reporting isn’t such a burden for companies, nor should it distract from longer-term efforts.

He says “a lot can go south in six months” that companies would be required to tell shareholders about in their quarterly reports, and that less information would mean less p