This memorandum outlines key considerations from White & Case's Public Company Advisory Group for foreign private issuers ("FPIs") during the 2024 annual reporting season, divided into two sections: Form 20-F Housekeeping...more
At the recent meeting of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Subcommittee at the ABA’s Business Law Fall meeting, moderators identified several hot topics stemming from the new compensation recovery (clawback)...more
As companies look ahead to the upcoming proxy and annual report season, the SEC has generated a number of new items to add to your compliance checklist – in addition to those covered in last year's list. Those items, along...more
On October 26, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted rules1 implementing Section 10D-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, a provision added by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which will require listed...more
The rules direct stock exchanges to require issuers that are publicly listed in the US to adopt clawback policies for the mandatory recovery of erroneously awarded incentive compensation... ...more
You might remember back to 2015 when the SEC initially proposed rules to implement Section 954 of Dodd-Frank, the clawback provision. The SEC did not then consider adoption of the proposal in the ordinary course, instead...more
On September 29, 2022, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York dismissed a putative securities class action against Plug Power Inc. and certain of its officers. Plaintiff brought suit...more
The government's focus on clawbacks is at a fever pitch. At the Practicing Law Institute's SEC Speaks conference earlier this month, senior officials within the SEC's Division of Enforcement emphasized the agency's increasing...more
Audit Analytics has just posted its 2021 annual review of financial restatements, which this year covered a 21-year period. The review showed a 289% increase in the number of restatements to 1470, the highest level of...more
SEC Acting Chief Accountant Paul Munter released a statement last week, Assessing Materiality: Focusing on the Reasonable Investor When Evaluating Errors (the “Statement”), that is sure to become required reading for any...more
Executive compensation clawback policies continue to grow in popularity. Although the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet finalized its rules under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection...more
On July 1, 2015, the SEC issued proposed rules implementing Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which would obligate national securities exchanges to adopt listing standards that require listed companies to adopt and disclose...more
On July 2, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) entered into a settlement with Houston-based global engineering, construction, and services company KBR, Inc. (“KBR” or the “Company”) over accounting issues...more
California's Accountancy Act requires licensees to report to the California Board of Accountancy, among other things, "Any restatement of a financial statement and related disclosures by a client audited by the licensee". ...more
The non-GAAP financial measures pile-on continues. Certainly, the SEC has recently been making the public-speaking rounds and issuing CDIs warning companies of its concern about abuses of non-GAAP metrics, such as...more
Cornerstone Research released a report on Securities Class Action Settlements, “Securities Class Action Settlements, 2015 Review and Analysis”. It records an increased number of settled securities class actions last year....more
The Commission has been tried to make accounting and financial fraud issues a key focus at least since the creation of the financial fraud task force two years ago. Last week the agency brought an action against Monsanto...more
A recent study, “Why Do Restatements Decrease in a Clawback Environment? An Investigation into Financial Reporting Executives’ Decision-Making during the Restatement Process,” shows that clawbacks may have unintended...more
No, it’s not from The Onion. According to a study reported in CFO.com, unless the restating company faces regulatory action or shareholder litigation, the company’s competitors may use its financial restatement as a how-to...more
Nearly five years after the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Act”) was enacted in July 2010, the SEC approved proposed rules required under Section 954 of the Act. Section 954 of the Act added...more
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank” or the “Act”) includes a number of measures focused on governance and disclosure practices related to executive compensation. Although...more
On July 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules, consisting of new Rule 10D-1 and related rule and form amendments, that would require clawbacks of incentive compensation received by executive officers...more
On July 1, the SEC proposed rules requiring national security exchanges (such as NYSE and Nasdaq) to establish listing standards requiring publicly traded companies to adopt, comply with and disclose written clawback...more