TheCorporateCounsel.net

The SEC will hold a roundtable next Thursday – July 18th – to address short-term vs. long-term “isms.” There are two panels – one for each “ism.” This follows the SEC’s “request for comment” in December about the nature, content and timing of earnings releases & quarterly reports – see the comments submitted to the SEC on that so far. And here’s the related memos we have posted…

Meanwhile, Sagar Teotia has been named the SEC’s Chief Accountant – he had been serving as “Acting” in that capacity for a while…

Usable Disclosure: Plain English Helps

Here’s a nice short piece by Third Creek Advisors’ Adam Epstein about how smaller companies can become more effective storytellers. Here’s an excerpt:

If your company’s storytelling acumen is high, your test subjects will quickly and accurately grasp the zeitgeist of your company. If they struggle, it’s likely that lots of small-cap investors – many of whom are generalists – don’t sufficiently understand what your company does either.

One way to dramatically increase messaging effectiveness is through website videos. Notwithstanding the fact that in excess of five billion videos are watched daily on YouTube, a surprising number of small-cap companies don’t have an “about us” video easily accessible on the home page of their corporate websites. This is a big mistake; a two-minute, professionally-produced, easy-to-understand video can pay for itself almost immediately.

Corp Fin Updates “Financial Reporting Manual” (Again)

Last week, Corp Fin indicated that it has updated its “Financial Reporting Manual” to remove guidance related to presentation of selected financial data & acquired business financial statements in a Form 10 filed by a “Smaller Reporting Company”; clarify the application of Rule 3-13 and Note 5 to Rule 8-01 of Regulation S-X; and provide revisions for certain technical amendments (e.g., update EGC revenue threshold pursuant to SEC Release 33-10332 and replace FASB ASU references with the applicable ASC Topics).

– Broc Romanek