The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Canadian securities regulators are planning to launch a pilot project to allow smaller public companies to disclose financial results semi-annually. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that the multiyear experiment, led by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), would let some junior issuers voluntarily skip their first- and third-quarter financial reports, and so release earnings twice each year. The plan follows years of consultations, and stock-market executives have been expecting regulators to test semi-annual reporting, at least for some smaller entities. Toronto Stock Exchange boss Loui Anastasopoulos said in September that he expected a plan would be implemented within two years. The launch of the pilot comes one month after the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins, said the market watchdog will propose allowing public companies to report earnings twice a year, days after President Donald Trump floated the idea. Critics says the change would reduce transparency and could backfire by undermining investor confidence in capital markets. Targeted are listings on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Canadian Securities Exchange.