Category: Securities

In her final speech as SEC Chair, White identifies current trends assailing SEC independence

by Cydney Posner Mary Jo White took the occasion of her final speech as SEC Chair, presented to the Economic Club of New York, to discuss how to maintain the role of the SEC as an effective financial regulator and how the SEC can “continue as a strong independent agency […]

SEC charges company with violations of the rules related to non-GAAP financial measures

by Cydney Posner The Corp Fin staff have been dropping hints for quite a while about potential enforcement actions in connection with abuses of non-GAAP financial measures (see, e.g., this PubCo post), and an interesting one has now materialized.  In an Order released today, the SEC announced settled charges against MDC […]

It didn’t take long — House passes bills to “regulate” the regulators

by Cydney Posner Welcome to the future! On Wednesday, the House Republicans (with five Democratic votes) passed H.R. 5, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, a bill that would change the way federal agencies issue regulations and guidance. This bill would require agencies to, as part of their rulemaking processes, […]

Is there a fix for short-termism?

by Cydney Posner Much has been written about the problems associated with the prevalence of short-term thinking in corporate America.  As noted in a post from The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, a recent academic study revealed that “three quarters of senior American corporate officials […]

Likely interim SEC Chair spells out his priorities

by Cydney Posner According to this article in the WSJ,  SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar, who will probably become acting Chair when current Chair Mary Jo White steps down this month, has agreed with fellow Commissioner Kara Stein about various rulemakings that they might pursue in the interim until nominee Jay […]

Why does management seek to exclude shareholder proposals?

by Cydney Posner In this recent preliminary working paper, Why Do Managers Fight Shareholder Proposals? Evidence from No?Action Letter Decisions, academics at the USC Marshall School of Business attempt to determine why corporate management seeks to exclude shareholder proposals: are corporate managers acting as “responsible managers” who view shareholder proposals […]

CDI salmagundi (QIBs, foreign private issuers, Reg S and more)

by Cydney Posner Earlier this month, Corp Fin recently released a slew of new CDIs relating to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A as well as all things international. Dedicated to those who like to  Below are summaries.

SEC Chief Accountant and staff speak at AICPA National Conference

by Cydney Posner Earlier this month, at the 2016 AICPA conference on current developments, the SEC’s Chief Accountant and several staff members of his office shared their insights on a variety of key accounting topics, among them the following:

SEC Chair White to Republican Senators: fuggedaboudit

by Cydney Posner Ok, she was actually much more polite than that.  You might recall that, in November after the election, House Republicans sent a letter to federal agencies requesting that they not engage in any “midnight” rulemaking — adoption of new rules before the new administration is sworn in.  (See this […]

Environmental shareholder proposals increase in frequency and sophistication, but will they continue to be viable?

by Cydney Posner In this article, the WSJ discusses the increased frequency and sophistication of shareholder proposals regarding the environment. In particular, the piece observes that shareholder proposals focusing on environmental issues have evolved “from requests for greenhouse gas emissions cuts to demands for disclosure of strategies to manage climate […]