Workers in downtown Manhattan. Momo Takahashi/BI

The SEC could soon reduce the number of times companies have to report earnings.

Companies have complained that quarterly reports are costly and time-consuming.

Here's how fewer reports could affect white-collar jobs across legal, accounting, and communications.

A shake-up could finally be coming for quarterly earnings, and could rattle an ecosystem full of white-collar workers plying their trade as lawyers, communications pros, and data providers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule Tuesday that would reduce how often public companies must report results, cutting the requirement from four times a year to twice.…