In October last year, the SEC adopted a new clawback rule, Exchange Act Rule 10D-1, which directed the national securities exchanges to establish listing standards requiring listed issuers to adopt and comply with a clawback...more
On Friday, the SEC announced the departure of Renee Jones as head of Corp Fin. She has been Director of Corp Fin since June 2021 and will be returning to her position on the faculty of Boston College Law School. In her...more
The Corp Fin staff has issued a group of revised and new compliance & disclosure interpretations on the use of non-GAAP financial measures. The CDIs are more detailed and expansive in describing disclosure that the staff...more
Last week, Corp Fin posted another sample comment letter—this one urging affected companies to provide “specific, tailored disclosure” about the “disruption” in the crypto markets and collateral events, the “company’s...more
Corp Fin has issued three new CDIs regarding universal proxy. In November 2021, the SEC amended the federal proxy rules to mandate the use of universal proxies in all non-exempt solicitations in connection with contested...more
Corp Fin has issued a few new CDIs—two relating to Section 16 and one relating to beneficial ownership under Rule 13d-3. The new CDIs address issues in connection with exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, and the use of...more
At last week’s PLI program, SEC Speaks, Corp Fin Director Renee Jones and crew discussed a number of topics, among them disclosure of emerging risks, recent rulemakings, staff focus on Part III disclosures, shareholder...more
At the end of last week, Corp Fin issued three new CDIs related to universal proxies under Rule 14a-19. In November 2021, the SEC amended the federal proxy rules to mandate the use of universal proxies in all non-exempt...more
Corp Fin has posted a new Exchange Act CDI regarding swaps and forward contracts. Swaps and security-based swaps are subject to a comprehensive regulatory framework established under Dodd-Frank. Under release 33-9338, forward...more
In testimony this week before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government of the House Appropriations Committee, SEC Chair Gary Gensler talked about the budget request for SEC operations for next year. He...more
Corp Fin has posted a sample comment letter to companies about potential disclosure obligations arising out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the international response to it and related supply chain issues. Corp Fin wants...more
Last week, the SEC issued a number of new CDIs related primarily to M&A transactions, including Forms 8-K, communications under Rule 14a-12, and, in the context of de-SPAC transactions, the Rule 14e-5 prohibition of purchases...more
In remarks earlier this month to the Council of Institutional Investors, Corp Fin director Renee Jones discussed Corp Fin’s reevaluation of the no-action process for shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8. In particular, she...more
In November 2021, Audit Analytics posted its 20-year review of restatements, showing that the number of “Big R” reissuance restatements in 2020, the last year of the review, was at a record low. According to the report,...more
Corp Fin has made it official—no more courtesy copies.
Even with EDGAR filings, firms often provide “courtesy copies” of registration statements, marked copies of amendments and other materials to the Corp Fin staff to...more
Back in March 2020, before we could even imagine that we would still be struggling with COVID-19 in 2022, the SEC announced Corp Fin staff guidance regarding annual meetings. Because of limitations on the ability to hold...more
At the end of last week, the Corp Fin staff made an announcement advising companies and shareholder proponents, effective immediately, to redact all personally identifiable and other sensitive information from Rule 14a-8...more
You might recall that, in 2019, Corp Fin discontinued its longstanding approach of responding by written letter to each no-action request to exclude a shareholder proposal. Instead, the staff responded by letter only when it...more
Yesterday, the staff of the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant and Corp Fin released Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 120, which provides guidance about proper recognition and disclosure of compensation cost for...more
Yesterday, Corp Fin issued Staff Legal Bulletin 14L, which outlines Corp Fin’s most recent interpretations of Rule 14a-8(i)(7), the ordinary business exception, and Rule 14a-8(i)(5), the economic relevance exception. The new...more
This afternoon, Corp Fin posted a sample letter to companies containing illustrative comments regarding climate change disclosures. Presumably, the goal is to help companies think about and craft their climate-related...more
Today, the SEC announced that Renee Jones has been appointed as the new Director of Corp Fin, replacing Acting Corp Fin Director John Coates, who will become SEC General Counsel. Both appointments are effective June 21, 2021....more
Congress now seems to be all over this SPAC phenomenon. Last week a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on “Going Public: SPACs, Direct Listings, Public Offerings, and the Need for Investor...more
As reported by Bloomberg, Acting Corp Fin Director John Coates told a webinar audience that mandatory ESG disclosures were “overdue,” and that the SEC was moving quickly on related rulemaking. In the webinar, sponsored by...more
Warrants are frequently issued in connection with the formation and initial registered offerings of SPACs, but apparently there have been some problems with accounting for some of these warrants, or at least, so it appears...more