For more than 55 years, US public companies have filed quarterly reports like clockwork. The SEC now wants to make that optional, and some of the biggest names in finance are not having it.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed on May 5, 2026, through Release No. 33-11414, a new voluntary semiannual reporting framework built around a form called the 10-S. It would replace up to three annual 10-Q filings for companies that choose to opt in. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins framed the move as a way to reduce regulatory burdens and modernize disclosure practices. The institutional investment community read it differently: as a threat to the information pipeline they depend on to do their jobs.

Wall Street’s heavyweights line up against the plan

The opposition reads like a who’s who of professional money management. Citadel, Fidelity, Two Sigma Investments, D.E. Shaw, and the Managed Funds Association have all raised concerns about the proposal. Their core argument is straightforward: less frequent reporting means more room for information asymmetry, which is a polite way of saying corporate insiders would know things the rest of the market doesn’t.

Investor pushback has been building since at least April 2026, well before the formal proposal dropped. Now that the SEC has opened an official comment period, those objections are being put on the record.

What the proposal actually changes, and what it doesn’t

The proposed Form 10-S would serve as an alternative to the three quarterly 10-Q filings companies currently submit between annual reports. But the framework would not eliminate the need for earnings releases, earnings calls, or current reports filed on Form 8-K.

Companies would still have to disclose material events in real time and could still hold quarterly earnings calls if they wanted. The difference is that the detailed, standardized financial statements currently required every 90 days would become optional on a six-month cycle.

What this means for investors

Portfolio managers at institutional firms have built entire risk management frameworks around the quarterly reporting cycle. Switching to twice a year would force a fundamental rethinking of how professional investors monitor their holdings.

The more pressing concern is volatility. When information flows less frequently, price discovery becomes lumpier. Academic research on disclosure frequency has consistently shown that less information leads to wider bid-ask spreads and more pronounced price swings.