(BFM Stock Exchange) – The American president wishes to repeal the obligation for companies to publish their results in a quarterly manner, and rather offers a semi -annual frequency. The companies listed in Europe have the obligation to publish their accounts each quarter.

Facilitate the life of companies in the United States. This is one of the (numerous) crusades led by Donald Trump, who has never stopped pleading for a relaxation of the regulations in order to stimulate the economic growth of the country.

Monday, September 15, the American president again asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to end the regulatory obligation to publish results each quarter for listed companies.

“This will save money and allow managers to focus on the good management of their businesses,” he wrote in a message published on Truth Social.

“Have you ever heard that China has a vision of business management over 50 to 100 years, when we manage our businesses on a quarterly basis? This is not good !!!”, he added.

American companies are subject to strict regulations, both on the frequency and the information communicated to investors.

They are indeed obliged to provide investors with their entire income statement, namely turnover to the benefit/net loss (TE). This is a legal obligation in the United States since the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1934. This law became a regulation of the American stock market gendarme in 1970.

“This reform has been claimed for ten years by all corporate governance experts, including Warren Buffett, who has made it his workhorse,” said Eric Pichet, professor of economics and finance in Kedge Business School in the cross.

During his first mandate at the White House, from 2017 to 2021, Donald Trump also asked the dry to soften the rules in financial communication. A request that had then remained a dead letter. But since then, the management of the US gendarme of the Stock Exchange has changed, with the arrival of Paul Atkins a former lawyer appointed by … Donald Trump.

The request of the American president therefore becomes more audible. The day after the publication of the message on TRUTH Social, the SEC also indicated studying Donald Trump’s request to remove the quarterly obligation from the financial results.

More flexible regulations in Europe

The companies listed in Europe, they do not have the obligation to publish their accounts each quarter. The European Commission has abolished this obligation since 2013. The legislation in force on the Old Continent requires the publication of a financial report which covers the first six months of the financial year, and which must be published “at the latest two months” after the end of the semester.

In France, the decision to communicate quarterly (or intermediary) financial information is the responsibility of the issuer, explains the authority of the financial markets.

The gendarme of the Paris Stock Exchange also recommends that companies that make the choice not to publish quarterly or intermediary financial information “to ensure in particular respect for their constant information obligation” to investors.

The rules are more or less flexible depending on the compartment in which the securities of the company are admitted to negotiation. And each year, a handful of transmitters take the risk of getting hit on the fingers by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and/or the Euronext market operator.

However, Euronext is intractable with companies that do not provide an annual financial report which guarantees transparent information for shareholders. This document contains elements necessary for the information of shareholders of any company, or not listed, for the holding of the ordinary annual general meeting.

In the United Kingdom, the company Coté is also solely responsible, on the regulatory level, for the establishment of its annual and semi-annual reports.

A reduction of the rules

In Belgium, the government reduced the information obligations in the spring of 2014 to the listed companies, repealing a royal decree of 2007 which imposed the publication of a quarterly financial report or an intermediate declaration.

The relationship to the king explains that this suppression is intended to alleviate formalities and to “reduce short -term pressure”, to promote management whose results are visible to longer maturity, recalls Lexgo.be.

“This repeal will not reduce the protection of investors, who are sufficiently informed by the compulsory publication of annual and semi -annual financial reports, on the one hand, and from any privileged information, on the other hand. Nothing prohibits the listed companies to voluntarily publish intermediate declarations or quarterly financial reports”, details the text.

In Spain, the National Commission for the Values ​​Market (CNMV) also ended in April 2021 to the obligation for the listed companies in the country to publish quarterly results. They still remain subject to a half -yearly publication.

The standard for large -scale companies, however, remains to publish information every quarter. The semi-annual rhythm being privileged for cost issues that certain SME-ETIs cannot bear by being subjected to a more sustained publication rate.

“The more a company has a large size, the more it needs to call on major international investors. And for these actors, the essential standard, is the quarterly publication,” said Lionel Melka, manager at Swan Capital.