Email address dispute clouds SEC plan to ease quarterly reporting rules

A dispute over one letter in a Securities and Exchange Commission email address is raising procedural questions about the agency’s proposal to loosen public-company reporting rules. Better Markets, a nonprofit investor advocate, told the SEC that the discrepancy may have kept some public comments from reaching the official record for a rule that would end mandatory quarterly reporting for some companies.

The SEC proposed the rule in May, asking for comments on a plan that would allow listed companies to report financial results twice a year rather than every quarter. According to Fortune, the proposal directed commenters to [email protected], while the SEC’s general instructions page and most recent rule proposals have used [email protected].

Better Markets raised the issue Monday in a letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda. The group said the address in the semiannual reporting proposal was “incorrect” and argued that the problem likely denied some members of the public a chance to comment on a major change to corporate disclosure rules.

The public comment period for the proposal closed July 6. Better Markets cited examples of people who said they submitted feedback to the singular “rule-comment” address but did not see their comments posted on the SEC website, according to Fortune.

The SEC disputed that there was an error. An SEC spokesperson told Fortune that “both email addresses are valid and accepted methods to submit public comments on this proposal” and said the agency was working through a large volume of comments.

Proposal would replace quarterly filings

The SEC’s May 5 proposal, published in the Federal Register on May 7, would let companies file a new semiannual Form 10-S and an annual report instead of three quarterly 10-Q reports and a 10-K annual report. Atkins said in a statement that the current quarterly schedule is too rigid and has kept companies and investors from deciding the right reporting frequency for themselves.

The change has drawn strong opposition in the comments posted so far, according to Fortune. Critics argue that less frequent public reporting would leave individual investors with less information than large institutional investors may be able to obtain.

Fortune reported that the Reddit community r/wallstreetbets submitted a comment opposing the proposal, describing itself as a group of 18 million retail investors. Better Markets chief policy officer Amanda Fischer told Fortune that the group’s review of posted comments found roughly 99% opposed the SEC plan.

Procedural concerns

The dispute matters because federal agencies must consider significant public comments when writing final rules. A 2025 Yale Law Journal article cited by Fortune said the Supreme Court has confirmed that agencies must consider and respond to significant comments submitted during the public comment period.

Fischer told Fortune that Better Markets contacted the SEC after she heard from an investor advocate and saw people on LinkedIn reporting trouble submitting comments or finding their submissions online. She said her review of SEC rule proposals since 2019 found only two examples using the singular email address, including the semiannual reporting proposal.

Better Markets also pointed to a prior SEC comment-processing problem in 2021 and 2022, which the agency described at the time as a technological error. The SEC later reopened 11 rules and one request for comment, including rules involving money-market funds and short sellers.

Better Markets has asked the SEC to correct the Federal Register record, reopen the comment period and warn the public that some comments may not have been successfully submitted. Fischer told Fortune that unless all comments are received, processed and reviewed, the SEC could have difficulty defending the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act if it is challenged.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.