Abolish Quarterly Reporting? What A Bad Idea

A bad idea made the rounds on Friday and it emanated from the source of all bad ideas: Donald Trump’s Twitter feed.

“In speaking with some of the world’s top business leaders I asked what it is that would make business (jobs) even better in the U.S.”, Trump tweeted at 7:30 in the morning, describing a series of discussions he apparently held with corporate visionaries. The President went on to quote one of these “top business leaders” as follows:

Stop quarterly reporting & go to a six month system.

That, Trump explained, “would allow greater flexibility & save money.”

Being the flexible penny pincher he is, Trump immediately “asked the SEC to study!” (inexplicable exclamation point in the original).

Frankly, I wasn’t planning on writing about this. Most of the headlines I read on Friday referencing that tweet contained the phrase “Trump proposes” or some derivation thereof, and what’s important to remember here is that Trump “proposes” a lot of things. For instance, he “proposed” constructing a 100-foot high concrete wall on the border with Mexico. And he “proposed” invading Venezuela. And he “proposed” building an army of intergalactic marines called “Space Force.” So it’s not clear that anyone needs to take this seriously.

But Trump is hardly alone in suggesting that this is a good idea. Larry Fink, Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett (to name a few) have raised the issue in one way or another and as it turns out, it was Indra Nooyi (the outgoing CEO of Pepsi) who inspired Trump’s Friday tweet. Here’s her statement on the subject:

[Many companies] have been discussing how to better orient corporations to have a more long-term view. My comments were made in that broader context, and included a suggestion to explore the harmonization of the European system and the U.S. system of financial reporting.