It’s a safe bet that the SEC still takes social media more seriously than Elon Musk – whose recent Twitter bio was “Meme Necromancer.” But last week they called a truce in their ongoing battle by filing an amended settlement for court approval (although this WSJ article says that SEC Commissioner Rob Jackson wasn’t happy with the deal). The earlier version required a Tesla lawyer to give advance approval for any tweets that “contain, or reasonably could contain, information material to the company or its shareholders.”

I wrote about how the original settlement didn’t work out so well in practice, when Elon tweeted production numbers without getting pre-approval and the two sides couldn’t agree on whether those numbers were “material.” So, page 3 of the amended settlement attempts to be more specific – it says pre-approval is required for communications that contain information on any of the following topics:

– the Company’s financial condition, statements, or results, including earnings or guidance;

– potential or proposed mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, tender offers,or joint ventures;

– production numbers or sales or delivery numbers (whether actual, forecasted, or projected) that have not been previously published via pre-approved written communications issued by the Company (“Official Company Guidance”) or deviate from previously published Official Company Guidance;

– new or proposed business lines that are unrelated to then-existing business lines (presently includes vehicles, transportation, and sustainable energy products);

– projection, forecast, or estimate numbers regarding the Company’s business that have not been previously published in Official Company Guidance or deviate from previously published Official Company Guidance;

– events regarding the Company’s securities (including Musk’s acquisition or disposition of the Company’s securities), credit facilities, or financing or lending arrangements;

– nonpublic legal or regulatory findings or decisions;

– any event requiring the filing of a Form 8-K by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including:
A. a change in control; or

B. a change in the Company’s directors; any principal executive officer, president, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer, principal operating officer, or any person performing similar functions, or any named executive officer; or

– such other topics as the Company or the majority of the independent members of its Board of Directors may request, if it or they believe pre-approval of communications regarding such additional topics would protect the interests of the Company’s shareholders

To anyone involved with insider trading, disclosure, Reg FD or social media compliance, this list looks similar to the materiality examples that those policies typically provide – i.e. info that’s not to be selectively shared, or publicly announced unless it’s fully-vetted. Hopefully there are controls to make sure those policies are followed!

While it’s not a bad idea to cross-check your own policies against this list, if you work with a limit-testing exec, you also might need to remind them it’s a baseline deriving from a (heavily) negotiated settlement – not an exhaustive list. So a principles-based approach remains best for most companies. As this article points out, it’s even hard to determine whether the tweet that caused this scuffle would require pre-approval, since Musk’s lawyers argued that the info was consistent with what was previously published in the company’s Form 10-K. This saga will likely continue.

Still More on “10-K/10-Q/8-K ‘Cover Page’ Changes: Courtesy of the Fast Act”

Yesterday, I blogged that the SEC had (very promptly) posted updated cover pages for Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K – which companies now need to use due to the “Fast Act” rules being effective – and pondered why the Form 10-K cover page seemed to require companies to make redundant disclosure about the title & class of securities registered under Section 12(b). Now the SEC has moved the new “trading symbol” disclosure to a more logical location. The zombie Item 405 checkbox remains, for the time being…

More on “Human Capital: Investor Coalition Sends 45-Page Survey”

Last summer, I blogged about a lengthy survey sent to 500 companies by a 120-member investor coalition called the “ShareAction Workforce Disclosure Initiative.” The initiative stems from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and aims to get companies to disclose comparable workforce information. Now the coalition is reporting the results.

First off, 90 companies responded to the survey – which is honestly more than I expected – and apparently more companies plan to report human capital information to WDI in future years. But in most cases, the info they shared wasn’t as specific or transparent as WDI wanted. For example, here’s what the investors say about governance descriptions that were shared in the survey:

Although almost all (98%) companies reported extensively on their governance of workforce issues, the quality of these responses was highly varied and often missing key information. For example, while all companies named an individual or committee responsible for workforce issues, only 40% referred to specific areas of oversight – some companies referred to the credentials of individual board members or the composition of a committee rather than what they were tasked with delivering, while others did not even mention workers in their response. 10% of companies disclosed information on the regularity of oversight mechanisms and internal review of workforce issues (including Lloyds Banking Group).

There were significant weaknesses in the reporting of governance related to the workforce. Around half reported how overall responsibility for workforce issues is filtered down from the board to the rest of the organisation (including AIA Group, BAE Systems, Enel, Pearson, SSE, and Svenska Handelsbanken), and less than half provided specific examples of workforce-related performance indicators (including BHP, Cranswick, Inditex, Intel, Pearson, Veolia, and VW). Most companies only discussed corporate responsibility in general terms rather than linking workforce issues with performance-related remuneration.

The 13-page report summarizes five primary findings. WDI plans to post more analysis – and recommended disclosure & workforce practices – on its website in coming months.

– Liz Dunshee

The SEC’s “Fast Act” rules go effective tomorrow – which means you need to start using new cover pages for Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. I blogged last month about our Word versions – and we’ve updated those to match the format that the SEC has now posted.

You can find the Word version of the Form 10-Q cover page in our “Form 10-Q Practice” Area, and the Word version of the Form 8-K cover page in our “Form 8-K” Practice Area. We’ve also updated our Word version of the Form 10-K cover page in our “Form 10-K” Practice Area. But as provided by page 43 of the adopting release, our version eliminates the checkbox that was previously required for delinquent Section 16(a) reports. The SEC’s Form 10-K still has that right now.

Also note that the way the trading symbol disclosure is set up for Form 10-K, companies will now need to identify the title(s) & class(es) of Section 12(b) securities twice on the cover page. That seems a little odd since page 82 of the adopting release acknowledged that the Form 10-K cover page already required that info and implied that the new rules would just add the trading symbol. Some of our members are speculating that this was done to facilitate tagging requirements and others think it was an oversight. Drop me a line if you know!

Fast Act: More FAQs on Expanded Hyperlinking Requirement

With the effective date looming for the Fast Act changes, we’ve been fielding tons of questions in our “Q&A Forum” about the new exhibit and hyperlink requirements. Here’s one (#9868):

Do the recently-adopted FAST Act disclosure simplification rules require registrants to include hyperlinks for the reports that are incorporated by reference into Part II, Item 3 of Form S-8? The adopting release does not mention Form S-8, but the amendments to Rule 411 could impact Form S-8 through general application of Regulation C (per Instruction B.1). Arguably, Item 3 should not be subject to the hyperlinking requirement, because the incorporation by reference required by Item 3 serves a different purpose than the incorporation by reference permitted under Rule 411, and because Item 3 also contemplates forward incorporation by reference (as to which hyperlinking is, obviously, impossible), but I haven’t seen any guidance on this.

John answered:

I think in the absence of guidance from the Corp Fin Staff to the contrary, people should assume that the hyperlink requirement does apply to S-8s, for the reasons you suggest. People raised the issue about forward incorporation by reference for other registration statements during the comment process, but the SEC wasn’t persuaded. See the discussion on pg. 77 of the adopting release.

In addition, John blogged last week about informal Staff guidance that suggests a link isn’t required if you’re incorporating by reference from one item to another within the same filing. Now, Bass Berry’s Jay Knight has followed up with thoughts on another common situation:

Question: How does this new hyperlinking requirement apply when the registrant cross-references the reader to other information that is contained either within the same filing or in a prior filing, without explicitly incorporating the information by reference?

For example, is a hyperlink required if the registrant in the legal proceedings item in Form 10-Q says that no material updates have occurred since the last Form 10-K and cross-references the reader to such prior disclosure, without explicitly incorporating the information by reference?

Here’s Jay’s answer:

Answer: Based on a review of the rules as well as the SEC’s adopting release, we believe it is reasonable to conclude that a “cross-reference” to other information, whether in the same or prior filing, should not be treated the same as the disclosure by a registrant that such other information is “incorporated by reference.” We believe this view is supported by the language in the new rules where incorporation by reference and cross-referencing are mentioned separately.

For example, new Rule 12b-23(b) states, “In the financial statements, incorporating by reference, or cross-referencing to, information outside of the financial statements is not permitted unless otherwise specifically permitted or required by the Commission’s rules or by U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or International Financial Reporting Standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, whichever is applicable.” (emphasis added) We believe the phrase “or cross-referencing to” demonstrates that the SEC views incorporating by reference and cross-referencing differently.

In contrast, Rule 12b-23(d), which is the operative rule related to hyperlinking in the Form 10-Q context, omits any reference to cross-referencing. Rule 12b-23(d) states, “You must include an active hyperlink to information incorporated into a registration statement or report by reference if such information is publicly available on the Commission’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System (“EDGAR”) at the time the registration statement or form is filed.”

Therefore, unless the registrant specifically incorporates by reference the information (perhaps even using that language explicitly), we believe it is reasonable to conclude that a hyperlink is not required by the new rules.

Our May Eminders is Posted!

We have posted the May issue of our complimentary monthly email newsletter. Sign up today to receive it by simply inputting your email address!

– Liz Dunshee