While the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new climate-related disclosure rules remain stayed, the SEC has not abandoned its focus on sustainability-related issues. On September 10, 2024, the SEC charged Keurig Dr...more
9/12/2024
/ Cease and Desist ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Keurig Inc ,
Material Misstatements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Settlement
On July 18, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed most of the claims brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) against SolarWinds Corp. and its Chief...more
8/13/2024
/ Accounting Standards ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dismissals ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Fraud ,
Internal Controls ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
SolarWinds
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
On August 25, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted, by a 3-2 vote, the long-anticipated Pay Versus Performance disclosure rules. After two rounds of public comment (see our prior alert and the reopening...more
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 December 15, the same day it proposed amendments to Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) that may blunt the use of the affirmative defense for insider trading, the Securities and Exchange...more
12/28/2021
/ Amended Regulation ,
Closed-End Funds ,
Comment Period ,
Corporate Issuers ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Foreign Issuers ,
Foreign Private Issuers ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Investment Funds ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Required Forms ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Share Buybacks ,
Stock Repurchases
In June 2021, Chairman Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expressed the view that it was time to “freshen up” Exchange Act Rule 10b5-1 - the rule that provides an affirmative defense to claims of...more
12/28/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Trading Policies
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 has adopted amendments to the disclosure requirements for business acquisitions and dispositions by a 3-to-1 vote (Commissioner Allison Herren Lee dissenting). The amendments modernize...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
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
Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an Order granting conditional regulatory relief from certain filing obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for companies facing challenges in meeting...more
3/5/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Form 20-F ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Relief Measures ,
Risk Management ,
Rule 144 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
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