SEC Small Business Panel to Continue Discussion on Disclosure Reform

SEC Small Business Panel to Continue Discussion on Disclosure Reform

As discussed in the article entitled “Small Business Panel to Continue Discussion on Disclosure Reform” in the June 29, 2015, issue of Accounting & Compliance Alert, the SEC's Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies is scheduled on July 15 to continue its discussion of disclosure effectiveness.
The panel plans to hold a phone meeting to consider the same set of issues from its June 3 meeting. Also part of that discussion: How the SEC should treat “finders,” unregistered intermediaries who connect companies with investors in private placements.
Debate over disclosure effectiveness has increased this year, with proposals both on Capitol Hill and within the SEC seeking to update Regulation S-K, which contains the commission's over-arching disclosure framework, and Regulation S-X, which governs financial statements.
The staff in the Division of Corporation Finance is in the midst of an initiative to “improve the effectiveness of the public company disclosure regime for investors and companies,” Chair Mary Jo White said in remarks prior to that June 3 meeting. The agency's staff is working to bring a set of recommendations to the commission, she said.
House Republicans want significant roll-backs on filing requirements for small public companies. The House Financial Services Committee in May advanced a bundle of bills to reduce the reporting rules for small companies. One of those bills, H.R. 1525, the “Disclosure Modernization and Simplification Act of 2015,” would require the SEC to remove needless or outdated disclosure mandates from Regulation S-K, with a focus on smaller issuers.

Ajit Chawla

Affluent Financial Services LLC, CPA's

http://affluentcpa.com