I don't know, but quarters also match the seasons, and for most of history manufacturing was directly tied to which season it was.

And a lot still is today. Homes, cars, clothing, [specific] food, it's all tired to the season.

In the US, it's probably something to do with quarterly dividends (which makes it the reporting period for financial results). Less frequent dividends would cause the value of shares to drop more significantly post dividend (which happens anyway, but with quarterly distributions, one doesn't have to think of shares as being 'almost there' w.r.t paying out). More frequently (monthly, say) would increase transaction costs too much.

I think it came from the corporate takeovers that happened back in the 1980s.