SEC Guidance

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On October 11, the SEC proposed amendments to modernize and simplify disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K, which were mandated by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. In large part, the proposed amendments follow the recommendations of a November 2016 report from the SEC staff.  As one SEC commissioner put it, the incremental adjustments to Regulation S-K are meant to “prune” the SEC’s existing disclosure regime rather than as “an exercise in slash-and-burn clearcutting.”

Below are six highlights from the SEC’s proposed amendments to Regulation S-K:

  1. Rules for Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) would be amended to clarify that a registrant need only provide a period-to-period comparison for the two most recent fiscal years presented in the financial statements and may hyperlink to the prior year’s annual report for additional period-to-period comparison. The proposed amendments would require hyperlinks to information that is incorporated by reference if that information is available on EDGAR. Instruction 1 to Item 303(a).

    Continue Reading Six Highlights from the SEC’s Proposed Amendments to Regulation S-K

On August 5, 2015, the SEC adopted new rules implementing the pay ratio disclosure requirement of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act required the SEC to adopt rules requiring reporting companies to disclose the ratio of the annual compensation of the company’s median employee to the annual compensation of its principal executive officer. These rules will become effective generally for companies in their Form 10-K for the 2017 fiscal year or in their proxy statement for the 2018 annual meeting. Below are some frequently asked questions that companies should be considering now in preparing for this new disclosure.

1. What are the new rules on pay ratio generally?

The new rules are contained in a new Item 402(u) of Regulation S-K added by the SEC. Item 402(u) generally requires companies to disclose

  • the median of the annual total compensation of all company employees other than the company principal executive officer (PEO),
  • the PEO’s annual total compensation, and
  • the ratio between the two numbers.

Continue Reading FAQs on the New SEC Rules on Pay Ratio

Last week, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued updated guidance on processing procedures for draft registration statements. Below is a FAQ summary table we have prepared related to this new guidance.

There are some nuances in the guidance, so please consult with outside securities counsel before omitting any financial statements in your filing. Contact any member of our Corporate & Securities practice for more information.Continue Reading 7 Answers to FAQs About the New SEC Guidance for Draft Registration Statements

With the September 1, 2017, deadline fast approaching for complying with the SEC’s new rules on exhibit hyperlinks, we have updated our March blog post with the frequently asked question below.

How does one link to an exhibit in a 30-year old registration statement that was filed as one gigantic ASCII file? The only available

…

Last month, the Staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance announced that, as part of the Division’s ongoing efforts to facilitate capital formation, all issuers are now permitted to submit draft registration statements relating to IPOs and Exchange Act Section 12(b) registration (e.g., spin-offs) to the Staff for nonpublic (i.e., confidential) review.

Previously, nonpublic review was available only to emerging growth companies (EGCs), as authorized by the JOBS Act, and in certain circumstances to foreign private issuers. Nonpublic submission of registration statements makes it possible for companies to avoid alerting the market of offering plans before the company is certain that it will move forward with any offering.Continue Reading SEC Extends Confidential Review of Certain Registration Statements to Non-EGCs

For most companies, the end of June means the end of the second fiscal quarter, which means right now you are hard at work finalizing the company’s interim financial statements and preparing its Form 10-Q for an August filing deadline. The end of the second quarter also means that it is time to check the company’s filing status for Exchange Act reports for fiscal 2018.

Know Your Filing Status

While the determination of whether a company will qualify as an “accelerated filer” or “large accelerated filer” for 2018 will not take effect until the date your Form 10-K is filed for fiscal 2017 (or, if earlier, your 10-K due date), the determination of your public float is calculated as of the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter, or June 30 for companies with a calendar fiscal year. Below are reminders for the different types of filers.Continue Reading The Results Are In – Now it’s Time to Check Your Filing Status

The new SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton, testified on June 27 to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee about the SEC’s budget request. His comments clearly show that rulemaking is in the pipeline at the Staff level to facilitate capital formation in the public markets. In this regard, Chairman Clayton states, “U.S. capital markets remain the envy of the world, but fewer companies are choosing to enter the public capital markets than in the past, and, as a result, investment opportunities for Main Street investors are more limited.” The following is an excerpt of Chairman Clayton’s comments.
Continue Reading Testimony on the Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Request

In monitoring SEC comment letters, we came across this SEC comment letter made public last week. It serves a reminder to registrants about their loss contingency disclosures, particularly those involving a “reasonably possible” loss per ASC 450.  In the letter the SEC staff comments, “In regards to this [disclosed litigation] matter as well as any additional matters for which you believe it is at least reasonably possible that a material loss has been incurred but are unable to estimate the amount of loss, please supplementally tell us (a) the procedures you undertake on a quarterly basis to attempt to develop a range of reasonably possible loss for disclosure and (b) the specific factors that are causing your inability to estimate and when you expect those factors to be alleviated for each matter.” 

Continue Reading SEC Comment About “Reasonably Possible” Litigation Loss

In monitoring SEC comment letters, we came across this SEC comment letter made public today, which we thought of particular interest to our readership given its direct application to almost all public companies. In the letter, the SEC Staff expressly concludes that simply including a URL address in an earnings press release that directs readers to a website where the non-GAAP reconciliation is located does not comply with the requirements in Item 10(e)(1)(i) of Regulation S-K (i.e., “must include….in the filing…a reconciliation”) and the general rules regarding disclosure of non-GAAP financial measures outlined in Regulation G (i.e., “must accompany that non-GAAP financial measure with…a reconciliation”). Although this is the Staff’s current position, we believe this may be an interesting area to watch in light of the SEC’s recent rulemaking in the hyperlinking space (see this post) as well as continued innovation in electronic communication and IR practices.

Continue Reading SEC Staff Says No to Hyperlinking Non-GAAP Reconciliations in the Earnings Press Release

The Wall Street Journal yesterday published an interesting article regarding the SEC Staff’s attention to non-GAAP financial measure disclosure issues in the SEC comment letter process. The article highlights the ongoing focus of the SEC staff on non-GAAP financial disclosure issues following the revised (and more stringent) non-GAAP financial guidance promulgated by the SEC in the spring of 2016, as well as inquiries that were received from a sizeable number of public companies in 2016 from the SEC Division of Enforcement focused on non-GAAP compliance.
Continue Reading SEC Staff Continues Focus on non-GAAP Financial Disclosures

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From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network

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