There is strong public opposition to the SEC's plan to relax quarterly earnings requirements

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to change the frequency of financial reports to semi-annual, and most public feedback opposes

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s proposal of a rule that would allow companies to publish financial reports twice a year instead of the current four. However, most public feedback does not support this change. In addition, an erroneous email address sparked controversy that could affect the procedures the agency must follow before finalizing any changes.

The SEC issued Announcement No. 33-11414 on May 5, 2026, proposing this rule. The rule will allow listed companies to choose to use the new Form 10-S to file semi-annual reports in place of three quarterly Forms 10-Q, while retaining annual 10-K reports.

proposal was released, Commissioner Mark Ujeda said that the current pace of earnings disclosure dates back to the post-war industrial era and should not be assumed to remain applicable to all issuers in 2026. However, many investors are currently not buying it.

Why do most investors oppose the SEC changes?

Amanda Fisher, chief policy officer of nonprofit investor advocacy group Better Markets (former SEC chief of staff), based on her team's review of comments posted on the SEC website, found that nearly 99% of the feedback opposed the proposal. The SEC's comments page for the rule received tens of thousands of submissions, and the agency has publicly said it is still processing a backlog of filings.

Comments were submitted by both institutional giants and retail traders. The Council of Institutional Investors, whose members manage approximately $5.2 trillion in assets, issued a letter opposing the change. Its general counsel, Jeff Mahoney, wrote that extending the reporting interval would affect auditor review and management certification, while exacerbating stock price volatility. The council cited a 2026 CFA Institute survey in which only 35% of respondents supported changing to a semi-annual report.

The Reddit community "r/wallstreetbets", which claims to have 18 million retail traders, also filed objections. The letter said quarterly earnings reports are how an entire generation of small investors learn to read balance sheets-often after stocks fall due to earnings reports, they delve into Form 10-Q to find out why. The community said if the SEC reduces reporting frequency, it will remove the mechanism they rely on.

Does a letter "s" affect feedback submitted to the SEC?

The letter "s" was missing from the address used to receive comments, which was pointed out to be a clerical error. The Federal Register version of the proposal instructs commentators to email rule-comment @ sec. gov. The address specified by the SEC on its own instructions page (and the address used in almost all proposed rules since at least 2019) is rule-comments@sec.gov, with an "s".

Better Markets pointed out the discrepancy in a letter on July 13 to Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioners Hurst Pierce and Mark Ujeda, saying the published address was "incorrect" and warning that it "undoubtedly deprived some of the public of the opportunity to express their opinions." The comment window closed on July 6.

However, an SEC spokesperson confirmed that both addresses were valid. The SEC also repeated that assurance on its comments page. Fisher said she could not prove what happened, but suspected a spelling error. According to her, there were several people who reported sending feedback to odd addresses whose comments never appeared online.

The Administrative Procedure Act requires agencies to share comments and respond to important comments before adopting rules. This is also the basis for the rules to be challenged in court. Better Markets pointed out that the SEC reopened 11 rules and one request for comment in 2021 and 2022 due to technical errors in collecting feedback. Fisher said the SEC has released more than 66,000 comments, and she believes the real number could reach 200,000-a figure she attributed to Atkins mentioned at an internal meeting.

What do crypto asset issuers face?

The SEC's corporate finance department, which promoted this report change, is also the department promoting crypto asset reform under Director Moloni and Chairman Atkins's "Crypto Project." Atkins said rigidity in the 90-day cycle distracts management and forces it to pursue short-term goals.

Under the new directive, listed digital asset companies will either stick to quarterly reporting or switch to semi-annual filings-the same option as any other issuer under the rule. However, critics say this comes at the expense of transparency and benefits institutional investors rather than retail investors.