The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, enacted earlier this summer, imposes significant new corporate governance and executive compensation requirements that apply not just to financial institutions, but to public companies generally. Since many public companies begin in the fall to focus on the upcoming proxy season, we have prepared a “punch list” of potential governance and compensation action items management and boards of directors should consider in order to comply with the Act’s new requirements. Our list of action items also reflects the SEC's recently proposed timeframe for rulemaking in many of these areas.