Approaches to Giving Guidance during Economic Uncertainty -
As companies issue guidance during this period of economic uncertainty, their earnings announcements are taking different approaches, including...more
As companies prepare to file Form 10-Qs, they should give special attention to risk factors in light of recently announced global tariffs. The situation is particularly challenging due to the fluid environment, including the...more
4/9/2025
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Reporting ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
International Trade ,
MD&A Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retaliatory Tariffs ,
Risk Assessment ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities Regulation ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Wars
Although not new, eligibility to use Forms S-3 and S-8 and Rule 144 depend on compliance with SEC electronic filing rules. ...more
Last month, the SEC settled charges against Celsius Holdings, Inc. for allegedly improper accounting when it modified equity compensation awards for six departing employees and retiring directors. The errors caused allegedly...more
2/5/2025
/ Accounting Controls ,
Accounting Standards ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Reporting ,
Financial Statements ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Vesting
On January 10, 2025, the SEC announced settled charges against Vince McMahon, former Executive Chair and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., for signing two settlement agreements without disclosure to the board, anyone...more
1/14/2025
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Reporting ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Settlement Agreements
As companies prepare for next proxy season, they should review SEC staff guidance on the pay vs. performance table. In addition to recent staff interpretations, as discussed in our October 2, 2023 post and February 22, 2023...more
10/17/2023
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EBITDA ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Reporting ,
GAAP ,
Pay Ratio ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Total Shareholder Return (TSR)
In New England Carpenters Guaranteed Annuity and Pension Funds v. DeCarlo (Aug. 2023), the Second Circuit held, among other things, that CEO/CFO certifications mandated by SOX Section 302 constitute non-actionable statements...more
9/6/2023
/ Audit Committee ,
CEOs ,
Certification Requirements ,
CFOs ,
Corporate Governance ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Dismissals ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Reporting ,
GAAP ,
Internal Controls ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Section 11 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Statement of Opinion
The SEC staff recently published updated interpretations addressing some common non-GAAP practices as either clearly non-acceptable or questionable. Not ground-breaking, as they largely track recent staff comments, these...more
On October 26, 2022, the SEC – by a 3-2 vote – approved final rules directing the NYSE, Nasdaq and other stock exchanges to adopt requirements for listed companies to develop and implement clawback, or recovery, policies that...more
10/28/2022
/ Clawbacks ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Reporting ,
Listing Rules ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Stock Exchange
Spring-loading - awarding equity awards before announcing material good news - was in the headlines 15 years ago but still surfaces on occasion, notably when in July 2020 Kodak made large grants to executives the day before a...more
Last week the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance issued a statement addressing a variety of accounting, financial reporting and governance issues that a private operating company should consider before undertaking a...more
On June 23, 2019, both the Division of Corporation Finance and the Office of the Chief Accountant issued additional statements to public companies and their stakeholders about the importance of “high-quality” financial...more
This newsletter discusses noteworthy updates, key regulatory decisions and upcoming compliance reminders. ...more
7/3/2019
/ Accelerated Filers ,
Audits ,
Comment Period ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Contempt ,
Corporate Governance ,
Elon Musk ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Reporting ,
Insider Trading ,
Internal Controls ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Regulation S-X ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Social Networks ,
State Constitutions ,
Tesla ,
Unclaimed Property
On August 17, 2018, the SEC adopted amendments to eliminate or modify certain disclosure requirements that have become redundant, overlapping, outdated or superseded in light of other SEC rules, GAAP or changes in the...more