Corporate America Discovers 'Transparency' Means Talking Less Often

The word "transparency" has never worked harder than it does in corporate America right now. Companies are suddenly very excited about transparency—specifically, the kind that happens twice a year instead of four times.

President Trump is pushing the SEC to let U.S. public companies ditch their quarterly earnings reports in favor of semi-annual disclosures. If approved, this would be the first major overhaul to American disclosure requirements since 1970, when quarterly reporting became the law.

The pitch is familiar: long-term thinking, strategic focus, less pressure to chase short-term earnings. Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett made this exact argument in 2018, blaming quarterly obsession for corporate America's declining public company count. The logic is sound. The framing is disingenuous.

Let's be clear about what's actually happening. Companies don't want fewer reporting obligations because they've suddenly become philosophical about capitalism's timeline. They want fewer reporting obligations because fewer reports mean fewer opportunities for the market to learn they're underperforming. It's not strategic vision. It's damage control with better branding.

The numbers back this up. The SEC's own analysis pegs the cost savings at less than $200,000 per issuer—so small it barely registers. This isn't about efficiency. It's about opacity dressed up as pragmatism.

Investors, rightfully, are skeptical. Analysts expect "a price discount because of the lack of transparency and the greater risk of volatility." Less information doesn't make the business world less risky. It just means you're making decisions with your eyes closed.

There's also the fragmentation problem. The proposal would be optional, which means some companies report twice yearly while others stick with quarterly updates. Welcome to a disclosure landscape where comparison becomes a competitive sport, and opacity becomes a competitive advantage.

Interestingly, companies are already voluntarily abandoning transparency. The percentage of S&P 500 companies providing quarterly earnings guidance has collapsed from 50 percent in 2004 to 19 percent in 2024. Corporate America has been shedding sunlight on its own terms for two decades.

So here's the real transparency we need: Companies aren't pushing this change because they've had an epiphany about long-term thinking. They're pushing it because quarterly results keep exposing what they'd prefer investors didn't see. Call it what it is.