House aims to stop SEC from requiring political spending disclosure — companies increasingly “volunteer” spending information
by Cydney Posner It may seem early to you to be thinking about Christmas, but not to Congress. In fact, it’s just that time of year again when Congress uses annual appropriations bills as a Christmas tree for all of its favorite ornaments. In this year’s financial services spending bill, […]
A hug before they both exit: Commissioners Aguilar and Gallagher present joint recommendations for new transfer agent rules
by Cydney Posner Here’s a novel pairing: SEC Commissioners Aguilar and Gallagher, both of whom are scheduled to leave their posts at the SEC, today issued a joint statement about the need to modernize the SEC’s transfer agent rules, which govern the approximately 450 U.S. transfer agents. This may be one […]
Are non-GAAP financial measures coming under renewed scrutiny?
by Cydney Posner Potential misuse of non-GAAP financial measures may be causing some consternation once again…in the press at least. In the wake of the Enron scandal and the dot-com bust in 2003, the SEC adopted Reg G and related amendments to Reg S-K to prevent public disclosure of misleading […]
Study shows decline in accuracy of research analysts
by Cydney Posner Here’s an interesting report from Bloomberg on a soon-to-be-published study that concludes that stock analysts are actually worse at predicting corporate earnings now, after a number of regulatory actions to increase transparency and prevent research analyst conflicts of interest, than they were prior to these actions. In […]
WSJ reports SEC Enforcement looking at failures to disclose alliances among hedge fund activists
by Cydney Posner The WSJ reports that the SEC is investigating whether some hedge fund activists formed 13D “groups” but failed to make appropriate disclosure of their alliances. Under Rule 13d-5, when two or more persons agree to act together for the purpose of acquiring, holding, voting or disposing of […]
No such thing as too much analysis
by Cydney Posner Or, at least, that seems to be the position of the SEC staff following the tongue–lashing it suffered in 2011, when the D.C. Circuit tossed out the SEC’s mandatory proxy access rules. (See these news briefs.) You may recall that plaintiffs Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable had […]
Will we see any big changes resulting from the SEC’s disclosure effectiveness project?
by Cydney Posner Let’s just say that no one at the meeting of the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies yesterday morning had anything nice to say about the SEC’s current disclosure regime, no matter where they sat—as a reporting company, as a banker, as an investor. Particularly […]
SEC on the verge of proposal to implement Dodd-Frank clawback provision
by Cydney Posner The WSJ is reporting that the SEC is on the verge (July 1) of proposing clawback rules designed to implement Section 954 of Dodd-Frank, “recovery of erroneously awarded compensation.” Of course, actual implementation could still be a long way off, as the proposal would be subject to […]
FINRA issues seven new FAQs regarding research conflict-of-interest rules
by Cydney Posner Last week, FINRA released seven new FAQs related to the research conflict of interest rules. In essence, FINRA analyzes the types of facts and circumstances that might be decisive in determining whether certain conduct or communications are prohibited under the conflict-of-interest rules. According to FINRA, the risks […]
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