The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed giving public companies the option to shift from quarterly to semiannual reporting by introducing a new Form 10-S in place of Form 10-Q. However, adoption would be voluntary, and it remains uncertain how many companies would switch or how the change might affect public markets and insider trading practices.
“At the end of the day, I think analysts and investors are still going to expect companies to provide some sort of quarterly financial information,” Bracewell’s Troy Harder told Law360.
Harder said he also believes the decision could be industry-dependent. The proposal does give companies room to try one method before switching back to the other, and some companies may change their initial approach depending on how their competitors are reacting, he said.
