CFA Survey: 62% of Investment Pros Oppose SEC Shift to Semiannual Reporting
A CFA Institute survey of more than 2,500 investment professionals worldwide found strong opposition to reducing public company reporting frequency – and the findings arrive at a moment when the alternatives industry faces a direct stake in the outcome.
The survey, distributed to approximately 48,000 CFA charterholders working as investment analysts and portfolio managers, was conducted in January 2026 and released as a pre-production draft in April. It was timed to inform the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed rule on semiannual reporting, which it issued on May 5, 2026. CFA Institute said it will also file a formal comment letter with the SEC.
The headline findings: 62% of respondents oppose replacing mandatory quarterly reporting with semiannual reporting, and 70% oppose giving issuers broad flexibility to choose their own reporting frequency. Only 32% expect the U.S. companies in which they invest would continue to report quarterly if doing so became optional. Among those expecting quarterly reporting to continue, 57% anticipate that earnings releases would contain less information in a voluntary regime.
For the alternatives distribution channel, the report’s preface identifies a key tension: proposals to expand retail investor access to private equity and private credit through defined contribution retirement plans and other vehicles are advancing at the same time the SEC is considering reducing disclosure requirements for public companies.
“As private-market exposure becomes more accessible through investment vehicles available to retail investors,” the report states, “questions arise regarding the extent to which capital may flow to private companies that are not subject to the same ongoing disclosure obligations as public issuers and whose valuations may be less transparent than those observed in public markets.”
The implication is a disclosure gap narrowing in the wrong direction – toward less information, not more – at precisely the moment advisers and due diligence platforms are being asked to evaluate and recommend private market products to a broader investor base.
The current push is not a replay of the 2018 episode, in which President Trump called for ending quarterly reporting and the SEC issued a request for comment that ultimately went nowhere. In January 2026, Jim Moloney, the new director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, said in a public speech that “this time things will be different” and that SEC Chair Paul Atkins had asked the division to prioritize a formal rulemaking. The SEC’s proposed rule arrived on May 5.
Proponents of semiannual reporting have argued it reduces compliance burdens, discourages short-termism, and makes public markets more attractive to issuers who currently prefer to stay private. The CFA Institute survey challenges each of these claims on investor grounds. On long-termism specifically, only 41% of respondents agreed that semiannual reporting would meaningfully increase it. A larger share, 85%, identified management compensation structures tied to long-term goals as far more important drivers of long-term decision-making than changes in reporting frequency.
The survey drew a 5.2% response rate and more than 1,000 written comments. The report said that regional differences were minimal; of 46 questions, only 11 generated more than minor regional variation, indicating that investor preference for quarterly reporting is broadly held across global markets, not a U.S.-specific position.
The final version of the report, with visual enhancements, is expected to be published on the CFA Institute Research & Policy Center website. The comment period on the SEC’s May 5 proposed rule is open.
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