President Trump has just asked the SEC to study the implications of moving to a half-yearly reporting deadline instead of the current requirement to file 10-Q forms on a quarterly basis. Over the years, I have heard from plenty of managers who have lamented that the pressure of quarterly earnings targets imposes a heavy toll on their ability to focus on the long term. Some of the managers actively advocate doing away with quarterly reporting. Opponents fear that banning quarterly reporting will not stimulate long-run investments nor will it end earnings management. Instead, they worry that managers will simply go from obsessing over smoothing out quarterly numbers to obsessing about smoothing half-year numbers. Moreover, twice yearly reporting would make companies less transparent. Some argue that such a change would have little effect simply because analysts would pressure firms to keep up reporting on a quarterly basis. Which of these narratives best reflects what would happen if the U.S. were to ban quarterly reporting? What unintended consequences might such a move entail?