TheCorporateCounsel.net

One of the problems that becomes abundantly clear when working at the SEC is that you are always tasked with doing more with less. Like so many government agencies, the SEC has to wisely use its limited resources to regulate a substantial part of the financial services industry and the capital raising activities and disclosure of all public companies. I recall that it can be quite daunting at times to know that the odds are distinctly stacked against you when facing a much larger and better resourced contingent on the outside.

That is why, with the SEC’s ever-expanding regulatory reach, it is not surprising that the agency is looking to substantially beef up its Staff. In in the SEC’s fiscal 2023 budget request, the agency is looking to increase its budget to over $2 billion (from just under $2 billion in fiscal year 2022). In terms of staffing, the SEC is seeking to add an eye-popping 400 positions, with 65 of those positions going to the Division of Corporation Finance and 125 going to the Division of Enforcement.

The SEC’s budget request cites the following key priority areas that will affect its needs going forward:

– Initial Public Offerings and Special Purpose Acquisition Companies
– Private Funds
– Crypto-Assets
– Financial Technology
– Agency Use of Data Analytics
– Enhance IT and Cybersecurity

Not surprisingly, the budget request cites the SEC’s expanding role with respect to climate change risks and human capital in its request for additional resources and staff.

The budget request also includes money for the SEC’s move to a new headquarters. It feels like the agency just moved from 450 Fifth Street to 100 F Street just yesterday, but I realize now that it has been almost 17 years since that happened! I can still remember packing and unpacking the many accumulated documents stashed in the Office of Chief Counsel “library” and moving filing cabinets myself during that very chaotic move.

– Dave Lynn