In 2019, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) revised its electronic filing format to incorporate structured data in the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format. As has been the case with other federal regulators, the move to adopt XBRL is being undertaken to modernize the reporting environment and increase efficiency in submitting and consuming data. Broad support across the industry also helped drive the action.
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The SEC announced on September 23th that it has adopted amendments to modernize Exchange Act Rule 14a-8, which is its shareholder proposal rule. Through the years, the SEC has recognized the need to update certain parts of this rule which regulates the process for a shareholder to have its proposal included in a company’s proxy statement for consideration by all of the company’s shareholders.
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On September 16th, the SEC announced a final rule regarding publication or submission of quotations in the absence of specific information. With this, the SEC adopted modifications to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, an important element of the over-the-counter (OTC) market regulatory structure. Continue reading "SEC Announces Revisions to Increase Retail..." »

On September 23rd, the SEC’s staff of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) issued some information concerning Form 8-K and the Document Period End Date. DERA observed that some filers have designated the filing date of Form 8-K in XBRL and Inline XBRL submissions as the Document Period End Date. Other filers, however, have used the filing date from a previously submitted Form 8-K or a date that is unrelated to the reported event. Continue reading "SEC Releases Observations on Form 8-K Document..." »

On September 11th, 2020, the SEC announced that it has adopted the final rule for its update of statistical disclosures for bank and savings and loan registrants. The rule modifies required disclosures and classifies certain disclosures in a new Subpart 1400 of Regulation S-K. It reduces duplicative or overly similar disclosure items in other SEC rules and requirements in US GAAP and IFRS. It also replaces Industry Guide 3, Statistical Disclosure by Bank Holding Companies. These changes are intended to help investors have access to more meaningful, relevant information about these registrants, which will facilitate their investment and voting decisions. Continue reading "SEC Announces Final Rule for Update of..." »

On September 14th, the SEC presented a report to Congress regarding the 39th Annual Small Business Forum that was hosted by the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation on June 18th, 2020. This inclusive, special event brought together members of the public and private sectors, including entrepreneurs, investors, and market participants from across the country, to propose suggestions for policy affecting companies on the rise and their investors. These companies range from startups to smaller, publicly traded companies.
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Version 5.5a of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release corresponds to EDGAR 20.3 and contains new form types as specified by EDGAR 20.3. Additionally, this release contains support for the new redlining format for inline XBRL documents and other EDGAR 20.3 changes. Improvements and corrections have been made to the HTML to XHTML function, to HTML validation, to XDX for Risk Return, and to various other functions.

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On September 21, 2020, EDGAR Release 20.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release includes new submission types for variable contracts and new exhibits for Forms N-3, N-4, and N-6. EDGAR will now also allow filers to redline changed content in inline XBRL submissions.

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With the release of EDGAR 20.3, changes will be made to the way in which filers can redline revisions in their submissions to the EDGAR system. These changes allow for revisions within Inline XBRL. Existing revision tags have historically been placed loosely around text that has been altered to indicate the revision. In addition, broken character entities, &ltR&gt and &lt/R&gt, could be used in place of tags. Neither of these methods are acceptable for Inline XBRL filings since they both violate that format’s rigid XHTML requirements.

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On September 1, 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the organization responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of the SEC Reporting Taxonomy (SRT), announced proposed technical enhancements for the 2021 SEC Reporting Taxonomy. The planned improvements were published in a set of release notes that describe the proposed upgrades, which were designed to improve the overall functionality of the SRT. Continue reading "FASB Holds Public Review for Tech Enhancements..." »

On September 11th, the SEC issued the agenda for the September 16th meeting of the Asset Management Advisory Committee (AMAC). This committee was formed to provide the SEC with diverse perspectives on asset management as well related policy recommendations. The upcoming meeting will include a discussion of matters in the asset management industry, specifically issues concerning the ESG and Private Investments Subcommittees and improving diversity and inclusion. In addition, the meeting will feature a follow-up discussion on COVID-19 matters related to the May 27th AMAC meeting.
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On August 21st, 2020, the SEC voted to propose revisions to the National Market System Plan overseeing the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT NMS Plan) to reinforce the Consolidated Audit Trail’s (CAT) data security. Although the CAT NMS Plan currently has a number of requirements in place regarding the security and privacy of CAT data, the proposed modifications to the CAT NMS Plan are the latest SEC action to limit the scope of sensitive data required to be gathered by CAT. Continue reading "SEC Plans Boost to Data Security for the CAT..." »

The SEC will be closed Monday, September 7th in observance of Labor Day. The EDGAR System will not receive, process or accept filings on this day. Filings with a due date of September 7 will be due the following business day.
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The SEC has announced that it will hold a virtual public meeting of its Investor Advisory Committee on September 24, 2020. The meeting is open to the public via live webcast from 10 am to 4 pm EDT and will be archived for later viewing on the SEC’s website. Continue reading "SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Hold Public..." »

On August 31st, the SEC revised its list of unregistered entities using misleading data to solicit primarily non-US investors. Twenty-three soliciting entities, eight impersonators of legitimate securities firms, and seven phony regulators have been added to the the Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities (PAUSE) list.
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