The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing a plan to shift companies’ performance reporting requirements from quarterly to semiannual reporting, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday, citing the Wall Street Journal.

Expectations are rising that the easing of a quarterly reporting rule that has been in place for more than 50 years would reduce companies’ burden.

The SEC is recently preparing a related proposal and plans to release a draft within weeks. The process would then require public hearings and a vote, but companies are responding positively. Companies say the costs and administrative burden of preparing earnings announcements four times a year are significant, and semiannual reporting could give them more room to focus on long-term strategy.

The SEC is also holding talks with exchanges and is looking at cases in which the European Union and Britain scrapped quarterly reporting and shifted to semiannual reporting 10 years ago. Companies, however, tend to voluntarily release quarterly results, making it unclear how much impact a rule change would have in practice.

Investors are concerned that access to information could decrease, and TechCrunch reported that it could take time before the SEC makes a final decision.