Would Semiannual Reporting Really Have A Major Effect On Costs?

You remember, of course, that last month, the president, on his way out of town for the weekend, tossed out to reporters the idea of eliminating quarterly reporting. (See this PubCo post.) The argument is that the change would not only help to deter "short-termism," it would also save all public companies substantial time and money. But how meritorious is that idea? According to this article in the WSJ, if a change from quarterly reporting to semiannual reporting were actually implemented, smaller companies could experience significant cost savings, but large companies—not so much.

While it may be debatable whether a shift from quarterly to semiannual reporting would have any real effect on short-termism, there's not much question, the article asserts, that it would save time and costs, at least for some companies. The article maintains, however, that