As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enters the third year of the Trump administration, its regulatory and enforcement goals remain largely unchanged. At the direction of Chairman Jay Clayton, the SEC continues to...more
1/21/2019
/ Corporate Misconduct ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Glass Lewis ,
Individual Accountability ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Investor Protection ,
Popular ,
Proxy Voting ,
Remedies ,
Retail Investors ,
Risk Management ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trump Administration
On December 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules that will require hedging policy disclosures. The new rules, mandated by Section 955 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer...more
On December 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a concept release requesting comments on the nature, content and timing of earnings releases and quarterly reports made by reporting companies.1 In...more
On Wednesday, December 5, 2018, federal government departments and agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will be closed in observance of a national day of mourning for former President George H.W....more
On October 23, 2018, the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14J (SLB 14J), which provides important guidance concerning shareholder...more
10/25/2018
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Executive Compensation ,
Micromanagement ,
New Guidance ,
No-Action Relief ,
Ordinary Business Exception ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
On October 16, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Report of Investigation (Report) detailing an investigation by the SEC’s Enforcement Division into the internal accounting controls of nine issuers...more
10/22/2018
/ Corporate Issuers ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Government Investigations ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Information Reports ,
Internal Controls ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Spoofing
The SEC recently adopted amendments to disclosure requirements applicable to various registration statements and periodic reports, including minor changes to applicable form cover pages.
...more
On August 17, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amended certain disclosure requirements that have become duplicative or outdated. The amendments, which reflect the SEC’s efforts to implement the Fixing...more
On July 24, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule amendments that would simplify the financial disclosure requirements applicable to registered debt offerings for guarantors and issuers of...more
8/9/2018
/ Amended Rules ,
Collateralized Debt Obligations ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Debt Securities ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Financial Statements ,
Guarantors ,
Parent Corporation ,
Private Placements ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Regulation S-X ,
Rule 144A ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subsidiaries
On July 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a concept release soliciting public comment on ways to modernize Rule 701 and Form S-8 of the Securities Act of 1933 to account for recent developments...more
8/3/2018
/ Amended Rules ,
Board of Directors ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Corporate Officers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Stock Purchase Rights ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Statements ,
Form S-8 ,
Offerings ,
Private Offerings ,
Public Comment ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Qualified Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) ,
Rule 701 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Solicitation ,
Stock Options ,
Threshold Requirements
On July 17, 2018, the House of Representatives passed the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act (JOBS Act 3.0), a package of reforms consisting of 32 pieces of legislation principally designed to spur entrepreneurship by...more
7/24/2018
/ Accredited Investors ,
Angel Investors ,
Capital Formation ,
Dual Class Share Structures ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
JOBS Act ,
M&A Brokers ,
Private Offerings ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Small Business ,
Startups ,
Venture Funding
On July 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amended Rule 701(e) of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), as mandated by the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. The...more
On March 14, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new Rule 610T of Regulation NMS, which would establish a pilot program to study the effects of potential changes considered by the SEC on certain...more
7/17/2018
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Comment Period ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Institutional Investors ,
Nasdaq ,
National Market System (NMS) ,
NYSE ,
Premium Listed Issuers ,
Regulation NMS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Exchange ,
Transaction Fees
On June 28, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved amendments to the definition of “smaller reporting company” (SRC) that will substantially expand the number of companies that will qualify for the scaled...more
As a reminder, conflict minerals disclosures on Forms SD are required to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) no later than May 31, 2018....more
On April 27, 2018, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Nasdaq, along with certain technology and biotechnology groups, released a policy paper titled “Expanding...more
5/10/2018
/ Biotechnology ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Capital Markets ,
Chamber of Commerce ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Financial Reporting ,
ICFR ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Investment Banks ,
JOBS Act ,
Large Corporate Filers ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Mutual Funds ,
Nasdaq ,
New Guidance ,
Offerors ,
PCAOB ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Short Sales ,
SIFMA ,
Small Business ,
Technology Sector ,
Tick Size ,
WKSIs ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
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
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
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