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With all five seats at the Securities and Exchange Commission finally filled, a roundtable on International Financial Reporting Standards has nudged the SEC a notch closer to allowing IFRS use in the United States. The Commission assembled the forum last week to hear views on whether IFRS gave a reasonable view of economic reality compared […]

The advisory committee tasked with finding ways to simplify financial reporting has given its final report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The final report, submitted to the SEC on Aug. 1, spans more than 170 pages and includes a total of 25 recommendations aimed at SEC reporting companies. Cox “It is my sincere desire […]

Departing SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins appears to be spending his final days at the agency rallying cries for an independent review of the agency’s enforcement program. Atkins In July 16 remarks to the Exchequer Club, Atkins urged the SEC to form an independent advisory panel to evaluate and recommend improvements to its enforcement program. The […]

In case you haven’t heard, International Financial Reporting Standards are coming to the United States—so it’s not IFRS, it’s WHENRS! Bad puns aside, the financial reporting community is expecting the Securities and Exchange Commission (now that all the open commissioner slots are filled again) to issue a proposed roadmap for adopting IFRS sometime in the […]

Yet another player in the corporate world has decided to pay more attention to companies’ disclosures about executive compensation: credit rating agencies. In a recent report, Moody’s Investors Service listed three areas of compensation disclosure it considers particularly useful to help determine credit ratings: disclosure of performance metrics and targets; peer groups used to benchmark […]

A high-profile committee established to find ways to simplify financial reporting and make it more useful to investors has put the last spit and polish on its ideas. The Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting will present its final recommendations to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 1, but the committee has already […]

Memo to those who prepare 10-Ks and proxy statements: The Securities and Exchange Commission has posted new Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations related to Regulation S-K that you’ll want to bookmark. The new C&DIs, posted July 3, include new and updated interpretations and consolidate portions of the old telephone interpretations manual and other guidance. “There is […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporate Finance has posted new interpretations that simplify Form 4 reporting under Section 16(a) and clarify Form 8-K reporting obligations related to director resignations. The new Section 16(a) interpretation, detailed in a June 25 no-action letter, allows same-day, same-way open-market purchases or sales within a one dollar price […]

John White, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, gave a speech last month at Financial Executives International’s conference on converging U.S. accounting rules to International Financial Reporting Standards. In no uncertain terms (and pardon the pun), his speech was a whitewash for the benefit of the members of the club. […]

In a move that surprises nearly nobody, the Securities and Exchange Commission has given its formal blessing to another year’s extension for small companies to comply with the auditor attestation requirement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The June 20 announcement means non-accelerated filers will be required to provide the attestation reports required under SOX Section 404(b) […]