SEC Guidance

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On September 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved amendments, originally proposed in November 2019 and discussed in a prior blog post, to Rule 14a-8, which governs the process for a shareholder to have its proposal included in a company’s proxy statement.

The amendments to Rule 14a-8 are intended to “modernize and enhance the efficiency and integrity of the shareholder-proposal process for the benefit of all shareholders, including to help ensure that a shareholder-proponent has demonstrated a meaningful ‘economic stake or investment interest’ in a company before the shareholder may draw on company resources to require the inclusion of a proposal in the company’s proxy statement, and before the shareholder may use the company’s proxy statement to command the attention of the other shareholders to consider and vote on the proposal.”

Set forth below is a chart comparing the key amendments. Practical considerations regarding the amendments follow.

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Continue Reading SEC Adopts Amendments to Shareholder Proposal Requirements, Modestly Raising Thresholds

This is a continuation of our series addressing steps companies can take to protect themselves during government enforcement actions related to COVID-19. For more information, see our previous articles addressing corporate best practices and the health care industry.

COVID-19 has affected the financial conditions and operations of all public companies, most in a negative way but some in very positive ways. Regardless of the impact, all public companies must consider the anticipated scrutiny they will receive from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the possible risk they face from SEC Enforcement if they do not proceed with caution. While the rules and landscape may continue to evolve, it seems apparent at this point that SEC scrutiny related to COVID-19 is most relevant in the following ways.

1. SEC Enforcement’s role in monitoring relief funding. In a prior article, we discussed steps health care companies can take to protect themselves against government investigations related to COVID-19. But all companies that received relief funding must be careful.

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Continue Reading How Public Companies Can Protect Against SEC Scrutiny Related to COVID-19

Subscribers to our blog know that we monitor EDGAR for new SEC comment letters and enjoy bringing attention to the more interesting ones.  In today’s blog post, we bring you three new SEC comment letter exchanges.

  • In the first, the SEC asks the registrant for more information related to a COVID-19-related adjustment in its non-GAAP financial measure.
  • The second involves the SEC questioning, and eventually disagreeing with, the registrant’s materiality analysis under Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99 (SAB 99).
  • The third letter involves an offering document produced by South Korea.

SEC Staff Wants More Information about a COVID-19 Adjustment in Non-GAAP Net Income

We’ve previously blogged about COVID-19-related adjustments in connection with the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures, including the difficulty that some public companies may have in reasonably quantifying the extent to which incremental expenses were driven by the COVID-19 pandemic as opposed to other factors.…
Continue Reading Recent SEC Comment Letters of Interest Regarding COVID-19 Adjustments, SAB 99 and South Korea

On August 26, the SEC voted to adopt amendments to modernize the description of business (Item 101), legal proceedings (Item 103), and risk factor disclosures (Item 105) that registrants are required to make pursuant to Regulation S-K.  The amendments reflect the SEC’s continued movement to a principles-based, registrant-specific approach to disclosure.

As detailed below, some of the changes are rather significant, particularly the changes to the business disclosures and the requirement to have a new risk factor summary section of no more than two pages if the risk factors exceed 15 pages.  As a result, we expect most companies will need to make revisions and updates to their existing disclosures, specifically in connection with their Annual Report on Form 10-K where Items 101 and 105 of S-K are triggered. The rules are effective 30 days after their publication in the Federal Register.

The following table briefly summarizes the final amendments.  We have presented some practical takeaways following the table.

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Continue Reading Practical Takeaways on SEC Amended Disclosure Requirements for Business Description, Legal Proceedings and Risk Factors under Regulation S-K

Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued interpretive guidance, effective February 25, 2020, regarding the disclosure of key performance indicators and metrics (KPIs) in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A), which we discussed in a previous blog post.

This guidance may not have been at the forefront of disclosure matters under consideration for many companies during the first quarter 2020 reporting cycle given the disclosure and other challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic at that time.

Reminders for Public Companies

With the passage of time and a greater sense of clarity on COVID-19 disclosure matters, some companies may use the second quarter 2020 financial reporting cycle as an opportunity to revisit, review and, to the extent necessary, revise their KPI disclosure to ensure alignment with SEC’s interpretative guidance issued during the first quarter 2020. As companies do so, they should ensure that KPIs and other operating metrics disclosed in the MD&A are appropriately considered. For example, to the extent a company identifies an operating metric as a KPI, the company should ensure that its disclosure aligns with the SEC’s interpretive guidance, which may include current and prior-year period comparative disclosure and analysis of factors contributing to year-over-year changes, to the extent material.

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Continue Reading Second Quarter Form 10-Q Disclosure Reminder: SEC Guidance on Key Performance Indicators

Public companies designated as accelerated filers who are preparing their periodic reports for fiscal periods ending on or after June 15, 2020 (i.e., upcoming second quarter 10-Qs for many companies) will be required to comply with the SEC’s previously adopted Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (iXBRL) digital reporting guidelines. Per the SEC’s phase-in guidelines, filers will be required to comply beginning with their first Form 10-Q filed for a fiscal period ending on or after the applicable compliance date. Therefore, accelerated filers will need to comply with the new iXBRL rules in their next 10-Q, including cover page tagging and the new Exhibit 104 requirement. (These rules already took effect last year for large accelerated filers and except for accelerated filers as mentioned here, go into effect for all other filers for fiscal periods ending on or after June 15, 2021.)
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Continue Reading Reminder for Accelerated Filers – Inline XBRL Rules Now Effective

A recent SEC comment letter contained an exchange in which the Staff, in connection with a 10-K review, reminded the registrant to give equal prominence to the comparable margins computed on a GAAP basis wherever EBITDA margin and adjusted EBITDA margin were disclosed.

As a reminder, in the SEC’s Adopting Release titled “Conditions for Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” (Release No. 33-8176), the SEC states, “An example of a ratio that would not be a non-GAAP financial measure would be a measure of operating margin that is calculated by dividing revenues into operating income, where both revenue and operating income are calculated in accordance with GAAP. Conversely, an example of a ratio that would be a non-GAAP financial measure would be a measure of operating margin that is calculated by dividing revenues into operating income, where either revenue or operating income, or both, were not calculated in accordance with GAAP.”

This comment exchange, which is repeated below for reference, is a helpful reminder to our blog readership that non-GAAP continues to a focus of the Staff and that a margin number which is itself derived from one or more adjusted numbers will itself be a non-GAAP financial measure in many cases.

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Continue Reading EBITDA Margins Are Non-GAAP Measures Also

Today, June 30, is the reference date for calendar year-end companies to calculate next year’s filer status, as well as the aggregate market value of equity held by non-affiliates (i.e., public float) for purposes of inclusion in the annual report on Form 10-K to be filed in early 2021. In preparing these calculations, it is important each year for counsel to apply the definitions of public float and the relevant filer statuses to ensure that upcoming filings are made timely.

For calculating 2021 filer status, however, several of the definitions have changed. Earlier this year, the SEC adopted amendments adding a revenue element to the definitions of accelerated filer and large accelerated filer to exclude low revenue filers. While relatively straightforward in theory, the tests have proven rather complicated in practice. To assist companies in applying the amendments, the SEC has produced a Small Entity Compliance Guide. Although helpful, even this guide may prove difficult at times to follow.

Since most companies will start analyzing these changes today, this blog post is intended as a practical reminder of and gap-filling guide to the relevant changes for public companies. Generally, the amended definitions now include a carve-out for smaller reporting companies (SRC) with annual revenues less than $100 million in most recent audited annual financial statements.

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Continue Reading Happy Filer Status Day! Remember to Check the New SEC Definitions for Accelerated Filer and Large Accelerated Filer

On May 21, the SEC finalized amendments to its rules and forms revising the disclosure requirements for financial statements relating to acquisitions and dispositions of businesses, which were adopted in substantially the same form as proposed in May 2019. The amendments were effected “to enhance the quality of information that investors receive while eliminating unnecessary costs and burdens.”

The final amendments will, among other things, update the definition of “significant subsidiary” in Rule 1-02(w) of Regulation S-X, Securities Act Rule 405, and Exchange Act Rule 12b-2 to update the investment and income significance tests in each rule, as summarized in the table below. (Since no substantive changes were made to the asset test, we have not included it in the table below.)

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Continue Reading SEC Finalizes Amendments to Financial Disclosures Regarding Significant Acquisitions and Dispositions

As calendar-year public companies are beginning to prepare their Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (Form 10-Q) for their first quarter, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the related societal and economic impact continues to evolve. One important item that companies will need to consider as part of their Form 10-Q preparation is whether any new (or expanded) risk factors relating to COVID-19 should be included in their Form 10-Q.

Form 10-Q requires companies to disclose any material changes to the risk factors that were included in their Annual Report on Form 10-K (Form 10-K). Absent merger and acquisition activity or other material developments, it is not unusual for companies to determine no material changes have occurred since their Form 10-K was filed (and as a result no new risk factor disclosure is required).

However, given the significant impact of COVID-19 on businesses so far this year, we expect most companies will update their existing risk factor disclosure. Investors and other stakeholders are paying particular attention to COVID-19 disclosures, and the risks that COVID-19 poses to a company may not always be obvious to such stakeholders absent robust disclosure.

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Continue Reading Reevaluating Risk Factors in Response to COVID-19