On July 18, 2017, the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities and Investments held a hearing and heard testimony regarding the regulatory burdens facing public companies in the United States that may result in diminishing the appeal for privately held companies of undertaking an IPO.  The testimony focused principally on the requirements arising from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including auditor attestation, and the requirements arising from the Dodd-Frank Act.  Given that many private companies are less focused on disclosure burdens, it is a shame that almost all of the dialogue regarding the decline in the number of IPOs and the decline in the number of public companies in the United States has been limited to the same few themes.  Many private companies are more focused on other considerations, such as the availability of research coverage, liquidity in their stocks should they choose to become listed companies, short-termism and the pressures arising from the need to focus on each successive earnings announcement, litigation exposure, and a variety of issues that are broader than those considered by the witnesses.

Here is a link to the key takeaways:  https://financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=402173.

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