Trump floats possibility of changing reporting requirements for publicly traded companies

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to consider relaxing reporting requirements for publicly traded companies.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1030416679069777921

Under federal law publicly traded companies must file a 10-Q report with the SEC every three months. The report compares company earnings with that of the previous quarter.

Publicly traded companies with more than $10,000,000 million in assets must file a 10-K report with the SEC every year. The report compares company earnings with that of the previous year.

Publicly traded companies must send investors both quarterly and annual statements. The statements are generally less detailed than the reports companies file with the SEC.

The reports can be found on the SEC’s website.

Large corporations spend millions of dollars each year on lawyers and accountants in order to ensure compliance with the SEC and other government agencies.

Doing away with quarterly reports would help corporations save money. But the savings could come at the expense of investors as they might not receive the same level of transparency they do under current law.

The proposal comes less than one year after the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The law endeavors to make American businesses more competitive on the global stage. It lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

This article is republished with permission from Talk Media News