To my knowledge this 10-K includes the first critical audit matter, or CAM, issued by a Big 4 firm. The first of two CAMs is straightforward and does not reflect negatively on the company or its audit committee or cast doubt on its financial reporting. If anything, it most likely... Read More
The SEC has issued a no-action letter to Pocketful of Quarters, Inc., or PoQ, regarding the sale of gaming tokens called Quarters to be used on the Quarters Platform to play Participating Games. In its no-action request, PoQ notes that the economics of the video gaming industry have transitioned from... Read More
ISS has prepared a whitepaper that analyzes trends in director overboarding. The whitepaper notes that in the 2019 proxy season, “overboarding” became a center-stage issue for many companies and investors. Several large asset managers, including Vanguard, BlackRock, and LGIM, enhanced their voting guidelines to apply stricter criteria, while some directors... Read More
The SEC announced charges against Facebook Inc. for making misleading disclosures regarding the risk of misuse of Facebook user data. According to the SEC, for more than two years, Facebook’s public disclosures presented the risk of misuse of user data as merely hypothetical when Facebook knew that a third-party developer... Read More
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. has launched its Annual Policy Survey. The survey is a key component of ISS’ annual benchmark policy development process, looking at potential policy changes globally for 2020 and beyond. Institutional investors, companies, corporate directors, and all other market constituents are invited to respond to the survey.... Read More
The Long-Term Stock Exchange, or LTSE, has filed a rule proposal designed to create long-term value for listed issuers. As of yet, I do not believe there are any companies listed on the LTSE, but it was only recently approved as a stock exchange. The rule proposal outlines the following... Read More
The SEC published a statement that encourages market participants to proactively manage their transition away from LIBOR and outlines several potential areas that may warrant increased attention during that time. It is expected that parties reporting information used to set LIBOR will stop doing so after 2021. As LIBOR is... Read More
Blockstack previously announced they expected to be the first Regulation A qualified ICO. I blogged that this was a likely a correct prediction. It turns out it was true as the SEC has qualified the ICO. See the Company’s blog post here. Again, I am not touting or endorsing the... Read More
FASB has issued an Invitation to Comment, or ITC, as part of FASB’s project on certain identifiable intangible assets acquired in a business combination and subsequent accounting for goodwill. In previous outreach, the FASB staff received mixed feedback from users, preparers, and practitioners of financial reports on this topic. Consequently,... Read More
In a public statement, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton discussed the historical interplay between settlement offers and related waiver requests. Chair Clayton noted: “Although settlement offers and waiver requests have generally been made contemporaneously, and resolution of both often is critical to achieving the necessary level of certainty, in recent years,... Read More