When finalizing proxy materials for upcoming annual shareholder meetings, we recommend that public companies consider the following requirements under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules and stock exchange...more
3/12/2018
/ Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
EDGAR ,
Form 8-K ,
Listing Standards ,
NYSE ,
Popular ,
Proxy Materials ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Shareholder Meetings ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders ,
Supplemental Information
On February 21, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an interpretive release providing guidance for public companies relating to disclosures of cybersecurity risks and incidents. Although the...more
2/26/2018
/ Annual Meeting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Form 8-K ,
Materiality ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation FD ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On February 2, 2018, the SEC approved the New York Stock Exchange’s proposal to permit qualifying private companies to use “direct listings” to list their shares on the NYSE and become publicly traded without conducting an...more
2/9/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Amended Rules ,
Capital Markets ,
Direct Listing ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Listing Rules ,
Mergers ,
NYSE ,
Private Placements ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Registration Statement ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Spinoffs ,
Valuation
The actions that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton has taken since the start of his tenure in May 2017 provide an indication of SEC priorities, including encouraging initial public offerings (IPOs)...more
1/25/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Broken Windows ,
Cybersecurity ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial CHOICE Act ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
PCAOB ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Repeal ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trump Administration
The U.S. federal government shutdown that began Saturday has the potential to affect capital markets and public companies in far-reaching ways. While the Securities and Exchange Commission currently plans to operate fully...more
The SEC staff released the following statement on December 22, 2017. We will monitor this guidance and provide any relevant updates.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced publication of staff guidance for...more
12/27/2017
/ Accounting ,
Audits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Division of Corporate Finance ,
Form 8-K ,
New Legislation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tax Cuts ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Reform
The much-discussed new revenue recognition standards jointly issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to harmonize revenue recognition standards between...more
Companies have important decisions to make as they prepare for their 2018 annual meeting and reporting season. We have prepared a checklist of key corporate governance, executive compensation and disclosure matters on which...more
12/4/2017
/ Annual Meeting ,
Auditors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
D&O Insurance ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Filing Requirements ,
Pay Ratio ,
Proxy Access ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recently announced updates to its U.S. proxy voting guidelines for the 2018 proxy season. Although the updates are not likely to have a significant impact on 2018...more
11/21/2017
/ Board of Directors ,
Climate Change ,
Director Compensation ,
Diversity ,
Executive Compensation ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Pay Gap ,
Pay-for-Performance ,
Pledges ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
On November 1, 2017, the House of Representatives passed two bills intended to ease regulatory burdens on capital formation. The bills would amend the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) to extend the “testing the waters”...more
11/7/2017
/ Accredited Investors ,
Capital Formation ,
Corporate Finance ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
JOBS Act ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Registration Statement ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14I (SLB 14I), which provides important new and timely guidance for companies and...more
On October 23, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) proposed new model for auditor reports. As we covered in our alert when the PCAOB adopted...more
On October 11, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted unanimously to propose changes that would modernize and simplify the disclosure items in Regulation S-K and related rules and forms. The proposed...more
10/16/2017
/ Confidentiality Policies ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EDGAR ,
Filing Requirements ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Item 303 ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has provided welcome relief to companies that have been directly or indirectly affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma or Maria and their respective aftermaths. The relief includes...more
10/4/2017
/ Delays ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Form S-3 ,
Form S-8 ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Hurricane Irma ,
Hurricane Maria ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Rule 144 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
On September 21, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an interpretive release on the pay ratio disclosure requirements in Item 402(u) of Regulation S-K, and the staff of the Division of Corporation...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new rules requiring hyperlinked exhibits in SEC filings will be effective for most public companies on September 1, 2017....more
On August 17, 2017, the staff (Staff) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new guidance that will streamline significantly the confidential submission process for emerging growth companies (EGCs) and...more
8/23/2017
/ C&DIs ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Draft Documents ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Financial Statements ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
New Guidance ,
Registration Statement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In July 2017, global index providers S&P Dow Jones (S&P DJI) and FTSE Russell (FTSE) announced changes to their index eligibility rules, with S&P DJI excluding from certain of its indices companies with multi-class capital...more
8/9/2017
/ Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Structures ,
Dow Jones ,
Eligibility ,
FTSE ,
Index Funds ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
S&P ,
Share Class Structures ,
Shareholder Rights ,
Voting Powers ,
Voting Rights
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on June 29, 2017, that the staff (staff) of the Division of Corporation Finance will accept draft registration statement submissions from all companies for nonpublic...more
7/6/2017
/ Confidential Information ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Draft Documents ,
EDGAR ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
JOBS Act ,
Registration Statement ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
On June 8, 2017, the House of Representatives passed, by a 233-186 vote (with all Democrats and one Republican voting against), the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017, a bill principally designed to reverse many features of the...more
6/12/2017
/ Clawbacks ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial CHOICE Act ,
Pending Legislation ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Repeal ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Trump Administration
On June 1, 2017, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) adopted changes to its rules governing the content and organization of auditor reports required to accompany audited financial statements in filings made...more
The Brexit vote and President Donald Trump’s election and proposed regulatory and other reforms have led to worldwide geopolitical uncertainty. We expect reporting companies will continue to disclose risk factors relating to...more
5/26/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Health Care Act (AHCA) ,
Basel III ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
EU Single Market ,
Exchange Rates ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Free Movement ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Immigration Reform ,
Imports ,
Paris Agreement ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Political Parties ,
Presidential Elections ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Quarterly Report ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Repeal ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tariffs ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Brexit ,
Volcker Rule
As we previously reported, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted several new rules on March 31, 2017, to effectuate inflation adjustments mandated under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. It...more
In statements released on April 7, 2017, the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Michael S. Piwowar, and the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance provided welcome news to companies concerning the...more
On March 22, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted an amendment to Securities Exchange Act Rule 15c6-1(a) to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer securities transactions from three...more