The preparers who write disclosures and make accounting judgments every quarter have watched SEC priorities shift with each change in leadership. Where is the Commission headed next, and what does it mean for financial reporting?
SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins addressed those questions in the Day 3 keynote of the Corporate Financial Reporting Insights (CFRI) Conference. His prepared remarks were followed by a fireside chat with John White, Partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and a former Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. White noted that Atkins aims to give one speech each year directed at accountants and auditors, and chose CFRI for 2026. Atkins noted that the views he expressed were his own as SEC Chairman.
Discipline for the FASB and PCAOB
Atkins opened with his expectations for the two standard setters the SEC oversees. Both, he said, must respond to fast-moving markets and technology while weighing costs and benefits and staying focused on issues that are material to investors.
He praised the FASB’s Current Trends and Emerging Issues research project, which monitors developments such as data infrastructure investments, nontraditional lending and semiannual reporting, and has already led to a private credit disclosure project. He asked preparers to keep giving the FASB detailed feedback on one-time and ongoing costs, alongside investor input on what information is material.
For the PCAOB, Atkins called for a return to basics, with registration, inspections, standard setting and enforcement each tied clearly to its statutory mission. Before taking on a project, he said, the Board should identify the problem, evaluate the evidence, consider alternatives and apply cost-benefit analysis from the start. He welcomed the PCAOB’s requests for public comment this year, including its first on its standard-setting and research agenda, and urged the Board to make that engagement routine.
Because issuers and their shareholders largely fund both organizations through the accounting support fee, he said success should be measured by high-quality standards, improved audit quality and confidence in audited financial statements. “Strong institutions earn trust through disciplined action,” he said.
Materiality as the North Star
White noted that the conference audience of roughly 3,000 was made up mostly of preparers, and asked what Atkins would tell them about materiality. Atkins pointed to the Supreme Court’s 1976 decision in TSC Industries v. Northway, in which Justice Thurgood Marshall defined materiality around what a reasonable investor needs to make an investment decision, and observed that too much information can obscure more than it informs.
Over the years, disclosure requirements have accumulated “like barnacles on the ship’s hull,” Atkins said, and the SEC is focused on returning to principles-based disclosure. He described the goal as “the minimum effective dose of regulation” needed to elicit material information, and encouraged companies to exercise judgment about what belongs in their filings.
The same principle applies to audit committees. Drawing on his own experience as an audit committee chair, Atkins recalled committee time spent on minor documentation lapses that the auditor could have resolved directly. He welcomed the PCAOB’s project to issue staff guidance on what is clearly trivial.
An Ambitious Rulemaking Agenda
Atkins said the SEC has proposals out for comment, or coming soon, in nearly every area it oversees. Priorities include a comprehensive review of Regulation S-K through a materiality lens, a simplification of executive compensation disclosure, clearer rules for digital assets developed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and steps to reinvigorate IPOs and capital raising. He noted the United States has about half as many public companies as it did in the 1990s.
Asked about the durability of these changes as leadership turns over, Atkins said it is the issue that keeps him up at night. His approach is to ground each rule in statutory authority, sound economic analysis and the needs of the reasonable investor.
On the filer status proposal, White noted that about 81% of public companies would become non-accelerated filers, removing the SOX 404(b) auditor attestation requirement and reducing the years of financial statements required. Atkins added that companies still subject to auditor attestation would represent about 94% to 95% of total public float. The aim, he said, is to recalibrate requirements by company size and time as a public company, since companies cite these requirements, including auditor attestation, as among the most costly parts of being public.
Semiannual Reporting Built for Flexibility
The SEC’s semiannual reporting proposal drew about 240,000 comment letters, roughly 10 times the previous record. Atkins said many of the negative comments misread the proposal, which lets companies keep filing 10-Qs, move to semiannual reporting or choose an approach in between, and revisit that decision year to year.
He illustrated the case with a pre-revenue biotech company awaiting an FDA decision, which could direct investor funds to research and development in place of three quarterly reports. An audience poll during the session showed a roughly even split among respondents planning to move to semiannual reporting, staying with quarterly reporting and still deciding. Atkins encouraged companies to consider what their markets and investors want.
Enforcement and Good-Faith Judgments
Atkins said the best enforcement starts with predictable, knowable rules that let companies calibrate their conduct in advance, and that regulation through enforcement is the wrong way to proceed.
He highlighted Enforcement Director David Woodcock, a CPA and former accountant, and the Financial Reporting and Accounting Unit launched in August. The nationwide unit provides dedicated expertise and capacity for financial reporting cases, which Atkins described as among the most challenging and lengthy investigations the SEC handles.
White raised the concern of preparers who make good-faith accounting judgments as standards grow more complex. Atkins acknowledged there will always be shades of gray, and said clear guidance from the SEC, FASB and PCAOB, along with common sense from regulators and enforcement staff, will help.
Uncertainty and Non-GAAP Measures
White closed with two disclosure topics he said he had rarely heard an SEC chairman address. On uncertainty, from AI to supply chains to interest rates, Atkins said “materiality has to be our North Star.” Prescriptive rules for any single topic cannot adapt as quickly as a principles-based framework, he said, pointing to Y2K and COVID-19 as uncertainties that dominated disclosure and then faded.
On non-GAAP measures, Atkins said companies should be able to present financial measures based on how they think about their business, since that is what investors most want to understand. He cautioned that measures must stay consistent across a company’s disclosures, and contrasted useful non-GAAP information with risk factor sections that have grown into more obfuscation than illumination.
Atkins closed by noting the nation’s 250th anniversary and the role capital markets have played in its growth. “America was an investment before it was a nation,” he said.
Watch the Chairman’s Keynote On Demand
Registration for CFRI 2026 remains open to FEI Members and Nonmembers. Registrants receive on demand access to Chairman Atkins’ keynote and the full conference program, along with the CPE-accredited replay, December 1–3, for up to 21 CPE credits.
The program also features keynotes from Mastercard Chief Economist Michelle Meyer and KPMG US Vice Chair of Audit and Assurance Christian Peo, along with updates from the SEC, FASB and PCAOB.
Register for CFRI 2026 »