Tag: SEC
CAMs are here! SEC approves new PCAOB standard to enhance auditor’s reports
Yesterday, the SEC approved the PCAOB’s proposed rules requiring changes to the auditor’s report, AS 3101, The Auditor’s Report on an Audit of Financial Statements When the Auditor Expresses an Unqualified Opinion, along with related amendments to other auditing standards. The new auditing standard for the auditor’s report, while retaining the usual pass/fail opinion, will require auditors to include a discussion of “critical audit matters,” that is, “matters communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements; and (2) involved especially challenging, subjective, or complex auditor judgment.” The new CAM disclosure requirement will apply (with some exceptions) to audits conducted under PCAOB standards, including audits of smaller reporting companies and non-accelerated filers (although at a later phase-in date). The SEC also determined that the new standard, other than the provisions related to CAMs, will apply to emerging growth companies. As Commissioner Kara Stein observed in her statement, the new “standard marks the first significant change to the auditor’s report in more than 70 years.”
SEC proposes amendments to modernize and simplify Reg S-K
This morning, the SEC voted to propose amendments to Reg S-K and related rules and forms based primarily on the staff’s recommendations in its Report to Congress on Modernization and Simplification of Regulation S-K (required by the FAST Act). (See this PubCo post.) That Report, in turn, was premised on the review that the SEC conducted as part of its Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative. (See this PubCo post and this PubCo post.) The proposal also includes a new approach intended to “streamline” the confidential treatment process. Although the rule proposal has not yet been posted, the staff indicated at the meeting that the proposal largely follows the recommendations in the Report and seeks to clarify ambiguous requirements, update or streamline the rules by eliminating duplication and outdated references, simplify the rules where possible and improve navigability through the use of technology. The SEC also voted to propose certain parallel amendments to investment company and investment adviser rules and forms. Here is the press release. Stay tuned for further details once the proposal has been posted (and digested).
In Senate testimony, SEC Chair offers insights into his thinking on a variety of issues before the SEC
In testimony last week before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, SEC Chair Jay Clayton gave us some insight into his thinking about a number of issues, including cybersecurity at the SEC, cybersecurity disclosure, the regulatory agenda, disclosure effectiveness, the shareholder proposal process, climate change disclosure, conflict minerals, compulsory arbitration provisions, stock buybacks, the decline in IPOs and overregulation (including some interesting sparring with Senator Warren). Whether any of the topics identified as problematic result in actual rulemaking—particularly in an administration with a deregulatory focus—is an open question.
SEC issues guidance in connection with pay-ratio disclosure (updated)
This afternoon, the SEC announced that it had adopted interpretive guidance in connection with the pay-ratio disclosure requirement, which mandates public company disclosure of specified pay-ratio information, beginning with the upcoming 2018 proxy season. Generally, the guidance provides a more expansive reading of three topics: company reliance on reasonable estimates, the use of existing internal records to determine the median employee and non-U.S. employees, and the use of other recognized tests and criteria (such as published IRS guidance) to determine employee/independent contractor status. At the same time, Corp Fin issued separate guidance regarding the use of statistical sampling (to be addressed in a subsequent post) and updated CDIs on topics related to the new SEC guidance. For a more complete discussion of the pay-ratio rule, see our Cooley Alert, SEC Adopts Final Pay-Ratio Rule.
SEC hack provides occasion for Chair Clayton to revitalize 2011 Corp Fin disclosure guidance on cybersecurity risks and incidents
As you probably read in the papers (see, e.g., this article from the WSJ), SEC Chair Jay Clayton announced yesterday that, in 2016, the SEC’s EDGAR system was hacked and, in August 2017, the staff determined that the hack may have led to insider trading. The hackers took advantage of “a software vulnerability in the test filing component of our EDGAR system, which was patched promptly after discovery….” The SEC believes “the intrusion did not result in unauthorized access to personally identifiable information, jeopardize the operations of the Commission, or result in systemic risk. Our investigation of this matter is ongoing, however, and we are coordinating with appropriate authorities.” As part of his lengthy statement, Clayton addressed the cybersecurity considerations that the staff applies in the context of its review of public company disclosures.
Will board diversity be the new proxy access?
In 2014, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, who oversees the NYC pension funds, submitted proxy access proposals to 75 companies—and ignited the push for proxy access at public companies across the U.S. The form of proxy access proposed in this first phase of the Boardroom Accountability Project was very similar to the form of proxy access mandated under the SEC’s rules that were overturned in 2011, requiring an eligibility threshold of 3% ownership for three years, with shareholders having the right to nominate up to 25% of the board. (See this PubCo post and this PubCo post.) It has been reported that, of the 75 proposals submitted by the NYC comptroller in 2014, 63 went to a vote, with average support of 56% and 41 receiving majority support. In 2015, Stringer submitted more proxy access proposals. Notably, until Stringer’s initiative, private ordering for proxy access had not gathered much steam; only six companies had adopted proxy access. Stringer’s office reports that, today, more than 425 companies, including over 60% of the S&P 500, have enacted proxy access bylaws. Now, the NYC Comptroller’s Office, leveraging the success of its proxy access campaign and the “powerful tool” it represents to “demand change,” has announced the Boardroom Accountability Project 2.0, which will focus on corporate board diversity, independence and climate expertise. Will Project 2.0 have an impact comparable to that of the drive for proxy access?
NYSE proposes rule changes related to material news and dividend notices
The NYSE is proposing two changes with regard to material news: the first relates to a limitation on the issuance of material news in the period immediately after the NYSE close, and the second relates to a delay in the effective date of the NYSE’s recent rule change regarding notice to the NYSE of dividends and stock distributions.
GAO report on gold supply chain reveals little progress in responsible sourcing
The GAO has issued a new report on conflict minerals focused in this instance on the supply chain for artisanal and small-scale mined (ASM) gold in the DRC region. The report also addressed efforts to encourage responsible sourcing of ASM gold and sexual violence in the region since the GAO’s last report in August 2016.
SEC sets (higher) fee rates for fiscal 2018, which begins October 1, 2017
On August 24, the SEC announced that it was, once again, hiking the fees it charges issuers to register their securities. In fiscal 2018, the fee rates for registration of securities and certain other transactions will be $124.50 per million dollars, up from $115.90 per million dollars last year.
EY study shows continued increase in voluntary audit committee disclosures among the Fortune 100
With the SEC now considering whether to approve AS 3101, the PCAOB’s new enhanced disclosure requirement for the auditor’s report (see this PubCo post), and SEC concept releases and other disclosure projects still hovering in the ether, there seems to be a steady march by companies toward inclusion of more supplemental audit committee disclosures on a voluntary basis, according to a new study by the EY Center for Board Matters. The study, which reviewed audit committee reporting in proxy statements by companies in the Fortune 100 for 2017, showed that companies in that elite group have demonstrated “[y]ear-over-year growth in voluntary audit-related disclosures in 2017 filings … similar to that seen in 2015 and 2016, indicating that companies and audit committees continue to reflect upon and make changes to the information that they communicate to shareholders.”
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