President Donald Trump floated the idea Monday of companies no longer providing earnings report on a quarterly basis and switching to semiannual instead.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the idea is “subject to SEC approval” and would “save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies.”
“Did you ever hear the statement that, ‘China has a 50 to 100 year view on management of a company, whereas we run our companies on a quarterly basis??? Not good!!!’” Trump said.
The wisdom of quarterly reports has come under question before. In a 2018 op-ed piece for The Wall Street Journal, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon advocated doing away with quarterly guidance, though not earnings reports.
“In our experience, quarterly earnings guidance often leads to an unhealthy focus on short-term profits at the expense of long-term strategy, growth and sustainability,” the pair wrote.
