No quarterly reporting; now make that work

WHEN news broke that Singapore will no longer require quarterly reporting from listed companies, save the 100 high-risk firms identified, one banker quipped that it's music to the ears of many corporates, likening it to regulators giving the finance sector an extra week or two of annual leave every quarter, depending on the size of the company.

On a more serious note, the observation sums up years of lament over the rising compliance burden, though the exact cost has never been quantified.

Relative to the US or UK, Singapore's equity market is small. The costs of generating quarterly reports, and having accountants, auditors, lawyers, investor relations and corporate communications pore through the documents before they are unveiled to the public have become unnecessarily burdensome.