Oct 4, 2026 · 35 min
SEC proposal could widen America’s disclosure gap
Quarterly Earnings Reports May Be Over Soon. Is That Bad News For Investors?
Replacing quarterly reports with semiannual filings could reshape how investors detect bad news, price risk, and judge corporate performance.
- 1The SEC proposal would let companies replace three annual Form 10-Q filings with two reports plus an annual filing.
- 2Less mandatory disclosure could leave investors with longer information gaps, increasing uncertainty, borrowing costs, and insider-trading risks.
- 3Marc Steinberg expects the current SEC to adopt the proposal despite overwhelming opposition in public comment letters.
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Marc Steinberg argues that longer gaps before mandatory disclosure could give insiders more opportunity to trade on material nonpublic information.
The brief
Rising Treasury yields and delayed AI-company IPOs frame a broader question: is the technology boom cooling, or is the IPO market losing momentum?
Miriam Gottfried and Jonathan Weil then turn to the SEC proposal allowing public companies to replace quarterly reporting with semiannual filings.
Marc Steinberg, a securities-law professor and former SEC enforcement attorney, argues that fewer mandatory disclosures could widen information gaps and weaken investor protection.
The discussion examines Form 8-K’s limited disclosure triggers, comparing the U.S. framework with faster material-information rules in Europe and Australia.
Steinberg’s sharpest warning is that longer gaps before disclosure could give insiders and others with material nonpublic information more opportunity to trade.
Despite overwhelming opposition in SEC comment letters, Steinberg predicts the current commission will largely adopt the rule as proposed.
Miriam Gottfried
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The Wall Street JournalListen to the full episode and explore every guest, topic, and moment on PodLume.