Trump vs. the Quarter, An Accidental Lesson in Sustainability

Donald Trump’s latest outburst about ending quarterly earnings reports might sound like another political diversion, but beneath the noise lies an argument sustainability advocates have made for decades; businesses are trapped in short-term cycles that stifle long-term value.

In August 2025, Trump proposed scrapping the requirement for companies to file earnings reports every 90 days, suggesting they should instead report twice a year. His reasoning? Quarterly reporting “pressures executives to chase short-term results rather than invest in the future.” Ironically, that’s almost word-for-word what ESG experts have been arguing for years.

He’s not wrong about the problem. Research such as The Real Effects of Mandatory Quarterly Reporting shows that frequent reporting can distort corporate priorities, prompting managers to delay R&D or environmental investments to meet immediate earnings targets. The UN Global Compact has called short-termism in financial markets “a major obstacle” to embedding sustainability in corporate strategy.

Scrapping quarterly reporting doesn’t automatically fix short-termism; it simply risks replacing it with opacity. Analysts warn that longer reporting gaps increase information asymmetry, insiders know more, while investors know less. Frequent disclosures could heighten volatility and reduce the accuracy of analyst forecasts.

Europe and the UK provide a useful reality check. Both scrapped mandatory quarterly reporting in the 2010s, hoping to liberate companies from short-term pressures. The results were underwhelming. Investment behaviour barely changed, and most firms continued to issue voluntary quarterly updates because investors still demanded regular visibility. The appetite for timely information didn’t disappear; it simply became optional. In short, the rhythm of the market endures, regulation or not.

Today, quarterly reporting remains compulsory for publicly listed companies in the United States and Japan. By contrast, many other major markets, including the EU, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, require only semi-annual reports, though some premium market segments or exchanges continue to expect more frequent disclosures.

Transparency isn’t the enemy of long-term thinking; it’s the foundation of trust.

Quarterly updates shouldn’t be quarterly performances, they should be progress markers on a long-term journey. If the real aim is to align markets with sustainability and long-term value creation, the answer lies not in reporting less, but in reporting better.

That means integrating non-financial metrics , carbon performance, workforce wellbeing, innovation spend, stakeholder impact, product innovation, into regular disclosures. When companies broaden what performance means, quarterly reporting becomes a platform for accountability, not anxiety.

Trump’s war on the quarter reveals a deeper truth; our reporting systems shape our economic priorities. If all that matters is what happens in the next 90 days, sustainability will always feel like a luxury. But if we redefine what value means, extending beyond profit to include resilience, innovation, and social impact, the same reporting cadence can become a tool for transformation.

Donald Trump to remind us that the future doesn’t fit neatly into a three-month spreadsheet. Long-term thinking is about deeper accountability.