Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recently issued its U.S. voting policy guidelines for the 2016 proxy season. The guidelines include a few key changes, a summary of which is outlined below.
Conflicting Shareholder...more
11/23/2015
/ Board of Directors ,
Conflicting Proposals ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Director Nominations ,
Exclusive Forum ,
Executive Compensation ,
Glass Lewis ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholders
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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently took several important steps to facilitate smaller securities offerings. First, it adopted final rules for the new Securities Act exemption for securities-based...more
11/5/2015
/ Annual Reports ,
Board of Directors ,
Capital Raising ,
Corporate Officers ,
Crowdfunding ,
Exemptions ,
Funding Portal ,
JOBS Act ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Public Comment ,
Public Offerings ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation D ,
Residency Requirements ,
Rule 147 ,
Rule 501 ,
Rule 504 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
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
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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)
The staff of the SEC Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) recently issued new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (CDIs) and an interpretive letter regarding the general solicitation prohibition in securities...more
8/14/2015
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Angel Investors ,
CDIs ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Disclosure ,
General Solicitation ,
Interpretive Letters ,
Investment Adviser ,
No-Action Letters ,
Rule 506 Offerings ,
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
On July 1, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued long-awaited proposed rules that would implement the incentive-based compensation recovery (clawback) provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform...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
On April 29, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules that would require companies to disclose the relationship between the compensation actually paid to named executive officers (NEOs) and...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
On April 1, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action against a company for a restrictive provision in confidentiality agreements that could deter employees from using the...more
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
On February 9, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released proposed rules to implement Section 955 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). Dodd-Frank amended Section...more
2/16/2015
/ CD&A ,
Corporate Officers ,
Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Employees ,
Hedging ,
Item 402(b) ,
Proxy Statements ,
Regulation S-K ,
Section 14(j) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
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
A number of companies have recently received a letter from the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange (Exchange) in Russia stating that it has decided to admit the company’s securities to public trading on the Exchange. These letters...more
As the end of the year approaches, reporting companies should be aware of the various SEC filing deadlines for 2015. Companies also should be mindful of the 2015 financial statement "staleness" dates (when financial...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Divisions of Investment Management and Corporation Finance issued a Staff Legal Bulletin on June 30, 2014 that provides guidance on the responsibilities of investment...more
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
On April 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict minerals disclosure requirements are unconstitutional and remanded the matter to...more
On January 22, 2014, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Administrative Law Judge Cameron Elliot (the ALJ) issued an initial decision censuring the Chinese accounting firms affiliated with Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG LLP...more
1/24/2014
/ Auditors ,
Audits ,
China ,
CSRC ,
Deloitte ,
Ernst & Young ,
Financial Statements ,
KPMG ,
Multinationals ,
PricewaterhouseCoopers ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
In This Issue:
- Incorporate lessons from 2013 say-on-pay results
- Prepare for new Form SD (Specialized Disclosure) filing requirements
- Ensure compliance with revised listing standards related to compensation...more
12/10/2013
/ Audits ,
Board of Directors ,
Compensation Committee ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Filing Requirements ,
Form SD ,
Forum Selection ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Pay Ratio ,
PCAOB ,
Say-on-Pay ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Votes ,
Shareholders
On November 21, 2013, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) released updates to its proxy voting policies effective for shareholder meetings taking place on or after February 1, 2014. The changes to ISS’ U.S. voting...more
On October 21, 2013, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) issued draft policy changes for 2014 that, if adopted, would become effective for shareholder meetings taking place on or after February 1, 2014. ISS is soliciting...more