Gary Gensler, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has asked the Commission staff to consider updates to Rule 10b5-1 in an effort to “address cracks” in the current insider trading regime and otherwise...more
On April 8, 2021, John Coates, the Acting Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance, released a public statement expressing concern about claims of some practitioners and...more
In mid-March 2020, concerned about opportunistic activist stockholders, a precipitous decline in oil prices and corresponding stock volatility, as well as uncertainty created by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the board...more
On June 23, 2020, the Division of Corporation Finance (“Division”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided additional guidance (“Topic No. 9A”) regarding disclosures about operations, liquidity and capital...more
On June 23, 2020, the Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued another statement on the importance of high-quality financial reporting in light of the impact of, and...more
As the economic turbulence associated with the downturn in commodity prices and the outbreak of COVID-19 continues, many energy companies may find their debt trading at significant discounts. For companies trying to manage...more
In the wake of COVID-19, global stock prices have plummeted. Yet, the current depressed state of the markets may distort the long-term outlook of many businesses. Hostile bidders and unwelcome activists may capitalize on this...more
On November 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Securities Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, which requires a public company to include shareholder proposals in the company’s own proxy...more
11/18/2019
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Investment Adviser ,
No-Action Requests ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Solicitations ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Public Comment ,
Rule 14a-8 ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Proposals
On November 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to its rules governing proxy solicitations. If adopted in their current form, these proposals could significantly affect interactions...more
11/18/2019
/ Comment Period ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Corporate Governance ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Public Comment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Solicitation
On September 25, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new Rule 163B under the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) to allow all issuers to engage in “test-the-waters” communications in connection with...more
10/1/2019
/ Accredited Investors ,
Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
General Solicitation ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Institutional Investors ,
Investors ,
New Rules ,
Public Offerings ,
Qualified Institutional Buyers ,
Regulation FD ,
Rule 163B ,
Securities Act ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Testing-the-Waters Communications
In an effort to improve the readability of disclosure documents, as well as discourage repetition and disclosure of information that is not material, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments on August...more
In an effort to reduce compliance costs for public companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments on May 9, 2019, that, in part, relax the requirement for certain “smaller reporting companies”...more
8/16/2019
/ Accelerated Filers ,
Attestation Requirements ,
Auditors ,
ICFR ,
Internal Controls ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Public Comment ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Section 404 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Smaller Reporting Companies
Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments (the Amendments) to modernize and simplify disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K (and related rules and forms). Consistent with the SEC’s mandate...more
4/5/2019
/ Amended Regulation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Statements ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Form 10-Q ,
GAAP ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
As public companies prepare to file their annual reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, they should consider whether they qualify for smaller reporting company (“SRC”) status under the recently amended...more
2/22/2019
/ Accelerated Filers ,
C&DIs ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Reporting ,
Form 10-K ,
Proxy Statements ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Smaller Reporting Companies ,
Threshold Requirements
Last week, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the SEC Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released new compliance and disclosure interpretations (116.11 and 133.13) (the New C&DIs), which...more
On September 25, 2018, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the SEC Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation 105.09 (C&DI 105.09), which clarifies...more
On November 1, 2017, the Division of Corporation Finance (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I (SLB No. 14I) to offer guidance on the scope and application of Rules...more
On October 23, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) unanimously approved (the “Approval Release”) the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (“PCAOB”) proposal to adopt a new auditing standard, AS 3101,...more
On October 17, 2017, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new Non-GAAP Financial Measures Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DI) that clarify when financial forecasts used in connection...more
10/25/2017
/ C&DIs ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Adviser ,
Financial Reporting ,
New Guidance ,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures ,
Proxy Statements ,
Regulation G ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
Beginning in 2018, U.S. public companies will generally need to comply with the pay ratio disclosure rule under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which requires that each such company disclose the...more
10/2/2017
/ CEOs ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Division of Corporate Finance ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Guidance Update ,
Independent Contractors ,
Leased Employees ,
Median Employee ,
Pay Ratio ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Wall Street
On August 17, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Staff issued new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) that clarify the financial information that Emerging Growth Companies (EGCs) and non-EGCs may...more
Last week, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that, beginning on July 10, 2017, the SEC will accept voluntary draft registration submissions from all issuers for nonpublic review. This...more
7/8/2017
/ Confidential Information ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Draft Documents ,
EDGAR ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Expedited Actions Process ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
JOBS Act ,
Registration Statement ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, a final rule became effective that added two new “check box” items to the covers of Securities Act and Exchange Act forms relating to an issuer’s status as an emerging growth company (EGC)...more
On March 22, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted an amendment to Rule 15c6-1(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer...more
3/27/2017
/ Amended Rules ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CCPs ,
Central Counterparties ,
International Harmonization ,
Risk Controls ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Rule 15c6-1(a) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Transactions
On March 1, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published for comment a proposed rule requiring the use of the Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format for the submission of operating company...more