TheCorporateCounsel.net

October 31, 2019

Survey Results: Management Representation Letters

We’ve wrapped up our latest survey on management representation letters (here’s the last one, from 2016). Here’s the results:

1. Who signs your management representation letter:

– CEO – 91%
– CFO – 94%
– Controller – 64%
– General Counsel – 24%
– Corporate Counsel Who Heads Litigation – 0%
– Corporate Counsel Who Handles Corporate Governance & Securities – 0%

2. How many representations does your management representation letter have:

– Less than 10 – 6%
– 11-15 – 12%
– 16-20 – 18%
– More than 20 – 64%

Please take a moment to participate anonymously in these surveys:

Hedging Policy Disclosure
Board Evaluations

Comment Trends: Corp Fin’s “Top 10”

This 91-page report from EY – and the related 7-page summary – say that Corp Fin issued 34% fewer comment letters last year. While that was partially due to the long-lasting government shutdown, it follows a 25% drop in the prior year – so there appears to be a trend. Not surprisingly, revenue recognition & non-GAAP were the most frequent comment topics. Here’s the full top 10 (see the report for example comments in each category):

1. Revenue recognition

2. Non-GAAP financial measures

3. MD&A (in order of frequency: (1) results of operations (20%), (2) critical accounting policies and estimates (10%), (3) liquidity matters (8%), (4) business overview (6%) and (5) contractual obligations (2%) – many companies received MD&A comments in more than one category)

4. Fair value measurements (including comments on fair value measurements under Accounting Standards Codification 820 – as well as fair value estimates, such as those related to revenue recognition, stock compensation and goodwill impairment analyses)

5. Intangible assets and goodwill

6. Income taxes

7. State sponsors of terrorism

8. Segment reporting

9. Acquisitions and business combinations

10. Signatures/exhibits/agreements (new to this year’s “Top 10”)

Foreign Nations Might Be Delaware’s New Competition

While you may think of Nevada – or even federal law – as Delaware’s primary competitor in the “corporate law” space, a forthcoming law review article says that non-US jurisdictions are the real threat. Here’s an excerpt:

While Delaware continues to dominate the market with 48.1% of US-listed companies, foreign nations now account for 13.4% of incorporations – more than double the 5.5% of US-listed companies incorporated in Nevada, which has been identified as the only other state besides Delaware actively vying to draw corporations that physically operate outside of its borders.

As this Article will show, offshore incorporation havens in recent decades have built sophisticated legal infrastructures that enable them to compete with Delaware. For one, they have attracted a network of elite foreign lawyers who help lawmakers in these jurisdictions draft “cutting edge” corporate law statutes. These lawmakers also rely heavily on incorporation fees for government revenues, allowing them to credibly commit to retaining laws that are attractive to the private sector.

Because the population of offshore incorporation havens tends to be a fraction of even sparsely populated states in the United States (for instance, as of 2019, the population of the Cayman Islands is 59,613 compared to 961,939 in Delaware and 2,998,039 in Nevada), these jurisdictions can enact legislation swiftly in response to private sector demand. They also do not confront the type of democratic accountability facing large nation states (or large states like New York or California), in part because they specialize in producing laws for corporations that do not physically operate within their territories.

Delaware’s judicial system is often pointed to as a competitive advantage over other states. These jurisdictions compete not by carbon copying Delaware’s judiciary, but rather by offering dispute resolution for a functionally similar to modern commercial arbitration. Like arbitration, courts in offshore incorporation havens swiftly resolve disputes without juries. Judges serving in these courts, like arbitrators, are credentialed business law jurists including partners at major international law firms who fly in from overseas to preside over cases ad hoc. Many legal proceedings take place in secret, and full-length opinions are frequently unpublished or available only to insiders.

I’m admittedly biased due to interning in Wilmington for a Delaware Justice back in the day, but isn’t transparency & predictability still a pretty big advantage? I guess if you can opt out of derivative suits & fiduciary duties, which is the case with many of these incorporation havens, that may matter less.

Liz Dunshee