New House bills seek to relax some SEC requirements and help reverse the growth in income inequality
by Cydney Posner Hat tip to thecorporatecounsel.net blog for identifying these two new House bills. H.R. 5405, Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act, is intended to relax some additional requirements for Emerging Growth Companies (EGCs), and has been passed by the House. It has some good stuff In […]
More Women on Boards: It’s the Economy, Stupid
by Cydney Posner When the Chair of the SEC and the editors of Bloomberg both think it’s worth getting on their soapboxes to promote the same issue, maybe it’s time for public companies to pay attention. The issue? Women on Boards. Earlier this month, the editors of Bloomberg published “Companies […]
No Delaware court decision re fee-shifting bylaw on an as-applied basis
by Cydney Posner It now appears that the Delaware court will not address the as-applied validity of a fee-shifting bylaw in the case involving Hemispherx. (As discussed in this post and this Cooley Alert, the Delaware Supreme has already ruled in another case that a “fee-shifting” bylaw adopted by the […]
Monumental effort by some to comply with conflict minerals rule: is it helping or hurting?
by Cydney Posner For some companies, compliance with the SEC’s conflict minerals rule required a truly monumental effort. According to this article in the WSJ, one company identified over 38,000 suppliers– pause on that a moment: thirty-eight thousand suppliers! – of components for its products that might contain conflict minerals (tin, tantalum, […]
Good news for companies adopting retrospective approach to new FASB revenue recognition standard
by Cydney Posner One of the critical questions that companies are facing under FASB’s new revenue recognition standard is whether companies that elect to follow a retrospective approach (applying the standard to both current and prior years — e.g., 2016 and 2015 revenues in addition to 2017) will be required […]
Briefs now filed in support of and in response to petition for en banc rehearing in conflict minerals case
by Cydney Posner On August 15, 2014, in the conflict minerals case, National Association of Manufacturers v. Securities and Exchange Commission (D.C. Cir. 2014), Intervenors-Appellees Amnesty International filed a brief in support of its petition for an en banc rehearing in that case. On Friday, September 12, on the order […]
SEC sends a message — to executives and their companies
by Cydney Posner In October 2013, SEC Chair Mary Jo White gave a speech at the Securities Enforcement Forum in which she declared an “enforcement mission” of the SEC to be implementation of the “broken windows” theory of crime deterrence made famous decades ago in NYC: “The [‘broken windows’] theory is […]
Whether 1992 or 2013 version of COSO framework — disclose in management’s and auditor’s internal control reports
by Cydney Posner Last week, I posted a piece regarding the “squishy” deadline (to borrow the term of art coined by the COSO Chair) for implementation of the new 2013 COSO internal control framework. As you may recall, the original 1992 COSO internal control framework is deemed by COSO to […]
Whether 1992 or 2013 version of COSO framework — disclose in management’s and auditor’s internal control reports
by Cydney Posner Last week, I posted a piece regarding the “squishy” deadline (to borrow the term of art coined by the COSO Chair) for implementation of the new 2013 COSO internal control framework. As you may recall, the original 1992 COSO internal control framework is deemed by COSO to […]
Academic study shows increases in insider sales prior to public release of certain SEC comment letters
by Cydney Posner Articles in Compliance Week and Forbes report on a recent academic study showing unusually high levels of stock sales by insiders in the period prior to public release of SEC comment letters that addressed revenue recognition issues, a topic that can often spell trouble at many companies. The level of […]