Imagine, if you will, a one-hundred page prospectus. One hundred pages of facts twisted beyond all manner of reason, with pie crust promises of castles in the sky. Buried within those pages are the SEC-mandated numbers you need to compare this company to any other company trading on thhe exchange.

Now imagine every company does this, but each in their own way with their own entirely orthogonal way of presenting their hallucinations. Does this make the mrketplace more efficient? More pragmatically, if any such company fails, does this increase or decrease investor trust in the exchange?

The SEC is ultimately responsible for building and maintaining trust in the process. A succession of IPOs where the proper GAAP numbed have been reduced to fine print and footnotes is contrary to their mandate.