On May 21, 2024, Erik Gerding, Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, issued a statement regarding the disclosure of cybersecurity incidents on Form 8-K. In his statement, Director Gerding encourages companies...more
On April 15, 2024, Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, spoke at a compliance and enforcement conference regarding the challenges and potential missteps associated with the increased use of...more
On April 4, 2024, the SEC issued a stay of its final climate-related disclosure rules. The SEC adopted the long-awaited final rules in March after receiving more than 24,000 comment letters....more
On March 6, 2024, in a 3-2 vote along party lines, the SEC adopted the long-awaited final rules on climate-related disclosures. The proposed rules faced intense public scrutiny over the last two years, with the SEC receiving...more
3/12/2024
/ Climate Change ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Emerging Growth Companies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Reporting ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Smaller Reporting Companies ,
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
While the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new climate-related disclosure rules remain pending, recent comment letters show that the SEC staff is not waiting for the rules to be finalized in order to seek more...more
Public companies are required to make prompt public disclosures on Form 8-K about a large number of specified events. While Form 8-K does not mandate current reporting of all material events, it goes a long way toward...more
Public companies will soon be required to provide increased transparency about cybersecurity incidents, risk management, strategy and governance as a result of new rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the...more
8/14/2023
/ Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Final Rules ,
Form 8-K ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
On July 26, 2023, in a 3-2 vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted new rules for public companies that will require disclosures regarding cybersecurity incidents, as well as cybersecurity risk...more
7/31/2023
/ Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 20-F ,
Form 8-K ,
New Rules ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
XBRL Filing Requirements
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recently announced plans to change its methodology for its Environmental & Social Disclosure QualityScore (ISS QualityScore). The revised ISS QualityScore is expected to take effect...more
In May 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amended its rules to significantly increase the disclosures public companies must make about repurchases of their equity securities. The recent amendments are the...more
5/23/2023
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Equity Securities ,
Insider Trading ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Repurchase Agreements ,
Repurchases ,
Required Forms ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stock Options ,
Stock Repurchases
On Tuesday, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance posted updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (C&DIs) regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures. A summary of the specific changes is set out below, followed by...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently revisited two proxy-related matters by (a) adopting amendments to the proxy rules governing proxy voting advice and (b) proposing amendments to the shareholder proposal rule in...more
7/26/2022
/ Comment Period ,
Corporate Governance ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Rules ,
Proxy Voting ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Rule 14a-8 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
Yesterday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) proposed groundbreaking rules intended to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosure requirements for public companies. The SEC’s climate...more
3/23/2022
/ Annual Reports ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On June 11, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (RegFlex Agenda). The RegFlex Agenda sets forth the short-term and long-term regulatory...more
6/21/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation D ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rule 144 ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in recent weeks multiple efforts to highlight climate change in corporate disclosures and to increase scrutiny and, potentially, enforcement focus on company disclosure...more
3/16/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted amendments to the shareholder proposal rule – Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The long-awaited changes largely track the SEC’s November 5, 2019...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, companies are experiencing a host of adverse consequences and gaining insight into additional potential risks of the pandemic to their businesses. At the same time, general uncertainty...more
In further recognition of the challenges to conducting business during the COVID-19 pandemic:
..On March 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission extended through July 1, 2020, and clarified the conditions for, the...more
Last week, amidst the focus on the coronavirus, the Securities and Exchange Commission made progress on its short-term rulemaking agenda by amending the definitions of “accelerated filer” and “large accelerated filer.” The...more
April, May and June are typically the most popular months for public companies to host their annual meetings of shareholders. This year, the unprecedented public health concern resulting from the coronavirus or COVID-19...more
3/16/2020
/ Annual Meeting ,
Bylaws ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Shareholder Meetings ,
Virtual Meetings
Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an Order granting conditional relief from certain obligations under the federal securities laws for companies facing challenges as a result of the current...more
On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance announced big changes in the internal structure of its disclosure program. While not a regular occurrence, such reorganizations happen...more
On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission released an Announcement Regarding Rule 14a-8 No-Action Requests with important updates to its process of administering Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, the shareholder proposal...more
What Is a Proposal?
Rule 14a-8(a) defines a shareholder proposal as a ‘‘recommendation or requirement that the company and/or its board of directors take action, which you intend to present at a meeting of the company’s...more
12/27/2018
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
No-Action Relief ,
Proxy Access ,
Proxy Season ,
Proxy Statements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Rule 14a-8 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Shareholder Meetings ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders
Highlights -
- As mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules requiring national securities exchanges to require listed companies to develop, implement and disclose policies...more
7/16/2015
/ Clawbacks ,
Corporate Governance ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Reporting ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Listing Standards ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Section 10D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Exchange ,
Total Shareholder Return (TSR)