The acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Michael S. Piwowar, recently released two public statements concerning the conflict minerals rule applicable to companies that file Exchange Act...more
Each company faces important decisions in preparing for its 2017 annual meeting and reporting season. Once again, we have prepared a checklist of essential areas on which we believe companies should focus as they plan for the...more
12/8/2016
/ Annual Meeting ,
Annual Reports ,
Audit Committee ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Executives ,
Corporate Governance ,
Director Nominations ,
Diversity ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
FASB ,
Non-GAAP Financial Measures ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Access ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Resource Extraction ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
On October 18, 2016, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued interpretive guidance on the pay ratio disclosure requirements in Item 402(u) of...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance announced that the staff will no longer require companies to provide the so-called “Tandy” representations in response to staff comments on a...more
On June 1, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amended Form 10-K to specifically allow companies to provide a summary section in their annual reports. This revision to Form 10-K was adopted to implement...more
On May 17, 2016, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance issued new and revised compliance and disclosure interpretations (CDIs) regarding the SEC’s rules and...more
Companies that are required to make conflict minerals disclosures on Form SD with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for calendar year 2015 must do so no later than Tuesday, May 31, 2016....more
On April 13, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a concept release seeking feedback on ways to modernize the business and financial disclosure requirements of Regulation S-K. The 341-page release...more
4/21/2016
/ Audits ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Assessments ,
Financial Statements ,
Foreign Investment ,
Investor Protection ,
Public Comment ,
Public Policy ,
Regulation S-K ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Following are a few points to consider when preparing proxy statement materials for filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with annual shareholder meetings....more
On December 11, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released another set of proposed rules to implement the resource extraction issuer disclosure provisions in Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The...more
Each company faces important decisions in preparing for its 2016 annual meeting and reporting season. We have prepared a checklist of essential areas we believe companies should focus on as they plan for 2016, including...more
12/12/2015
/ Annual Meeting ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
PCAOB ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals
The staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) recently published revised guidance regarding the "unbundling" of matters presented for shareholder votes in connection...more
The Division of Corporation Finance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Staff) recently published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14H (SLB), which provides important new guidance for companies that may receive...more
10/29/2015
/ Conflicting Proposals ,
Manager Proposals ,
New Guidance ,
No-Action Requests ,
Ordinary Business Exception ,
Proxy Season ,
Rule 14a-8(i)(7) ,
Rule 14a-8(i)(9) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Wal-Mart
On August 18, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 decision (opinion available here), confirmed its earlier decision in April 2014 by ruling that the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
8/24/2015
/ Appeals ,
Commercial Marketing ,
Compelled Speech ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Country of Origin ,
Democratic Republic of Congo ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Petition For Rehearing ,
Product Labels ,
Reaffirmation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On August 5, 2015, in a 3-2 vote, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules implementing the controversial “CEO pay ratio” disclosure requirements that were proposed in 2013 and mandated by...more
On July 1, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a concept release soliciting public comment on possible revisions to its existing disclosure requirements related to audit committees. The release...more
Conflict minerals disclosures on Forms SD for calendar year 2014, if required, must be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by June 1, 2015 — the Monday after the annual May 31 due date. As companies...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision on April 14, 2015 that reversed a U.S. District Court opinion and vacated a permanent injunction that would have required Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to include a...more
4/16/2015
/ Appeals ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Ordinary Business Exception ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Proxy Statements ,
Reversal ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Wal-Mart
Following are a few points to consider when preparing proxy statement materials for filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with annual shareholder meetings....more
4/1/2015
/ Annual Meeting ,
Annual Reports ,
EDGAR ,
Filing Requirements ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 8-K ,
Proxy Materials ,
Proxy Solicitations ,
Proxy Statements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Meetings
As our clients and friends once again embark on preparations for their 2015 annual meeting and reporting season, we have compiled a checklist of the corporate governance, executive compensation and disclosure matters that we...more
12/9/2014
/ Annual Meeting ,
Bylaws ,
Conflict Mineral Rules ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fee-Shifting ,
Glass Lewis ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance issued a statement on the effect of a recent circuit court decision on the SEC’s conflict minerals rules. In an April 14 ruling, the U.S. Court of...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has released a series of Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (the “Interpretations”) recently addressing the general solicitation exemption under new Rule 506(c) of...more