For years, publicly owned companies have adhered to a general principle that they owe their stakeholders and the public at large transparency when it comes to their financial status. From a legal requirement, that transparency has long taken the form of a mandatory quarterly sharing of financial results.
- President Donald Trump has now proposed putting an end to this practice.
- In his statement on the matter, he suggests companies should only have to disclose their finances every six months.
According to Trump’s logic, which he laid out in a social media post, he believes that quarterly reporting of finances is a burdensome requirement that distracts managers and CEOs from running their businesses.
Such a change would likely require approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Economists and shareholders have come to expect and rely upon quarterly reports for planning and informational purposes, meaning that a change could result in a rather massive trickledown effect when it comes to delays in business or even changes in stock market returns.
- A number of promo’s biggest firms, including PPAI members, are publicly owned companies that have always adhered to the practice of quarterly reporting of finances.
‘The Runway To Execute Strategic Investments’
STRAN, PPAI 100’s No. 12 distributor, recently reported a 95.2% year-over-year increase in sales, reaching approximately $32.6 million for the second quarter of 2025. According to the company’s CEO, Andy Shape, the proposal to a bi-annual reporting process is one that STRAN would welcome for the way it enables the entire organization to look a little bit further ahead with its general strategies.
“While transparency in the public market is essential, the current quarterly cadence creates significant financial and administrative burdens and often drives leadership to focus on short-term results at the expense of long-term strategy,” Shape says.
Often, strategies and investments are more likely to look like failures or missteps when they are judged over small sample sizes, Shape suggests. Giving companies even two more months to report their financials could be significant for certain projects or investments that are more likely to show success over time.
Andy Shape
CEO, STRAN
“A six-month reporting structure would give companies the runway to make and execute strategic investments – whether in innovation, talent or infrastructure – and allow sufficient time for those decisions to yield measurable outcomes,” says Shape.
“We believe this change could foster a healthier balance between accountability to shareholders and the ability for leadership teams to pursue sustainable growth, adaptation and resilience in an increasingly dynamic marketplace.”
