Financial Reporting Manual Updated
On January 30, 2023, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance updated its Financial Reporting Manual (“Manual”). The latest update is dated as of December 31, 2022. Although we attorneys like to leave the accounting to the accountants, the Financial Reporting Manual is a go to resource for all practitioners and is generally one of the many resources always open on my desktop.
As the preamble to the Manual states, it was originally created as internal guidance to the SEC staff. In 2008, in an effort to increase transparency of informal staff interpretations, the SEC posted a version of the Manual to its website. The SEC continues with its usual disclaimers that the manual is not formal guidance and that they can change their interpretations or views at any time, etc. Regardless, we all use it as a resource and in my years of experience, have never had the SEC take a counter-position to the Manual’s guidance unless there has been
SEC Adopts Amendments To Management Discussion And Analysis
It has been a very busy year for SEC rule making, guidance, executive actions and all matters capital markets. Continuing its ongoing disclosure effectiveness initiative on November 19, 2020, the SEC adopted amendments to the disclosures in Item 303 of Regulation S-K – Management’s Discussion & Analysis of Financial Conditions and Operations (MD&A). The proposed rule had been released on January 30, 2020 (see HERE). Like all recent disclosure effectiveness rule amendments and proposals, the rule changes are meant to modernize and take a more principles-based approach to disclosure requirements. In addition, the rule changes are intended to reduce repetition and disclosure of information that is not material.
The new rules eliminate Item 301 – Selected Financial Data – and amend Items 302(a) – Supplementary Financial Information and Item 303 – MD&A. In particular, the final rules revise Item 302(a) to replace the current tabular disclosure with a principles-based approach and revise MD&A to: (i) to
The New Auditor Report
In October 2017, the SEC approved a new rule by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) requiring significant changes to public company audit reports. Among other additions, an audit report will need to include critical audit matters (CAMs) and disclosure the tenure of the auditor. The new rule and requirements related to audit reports are significant as the audit report is the document in which the auditor itself communicates to the public and investors.
The new standard will require auditors to describe CAMs that are communicated to a company’s audit committee. Critical audit matters are those that relate to material financial statement entries or disclosures and require complex judgment. One of the purposes of the proposed change is to require the auditor to communicate to investors, via the audit report, those matters that were difficult or thought-provoking in the audit process and that the auditor believes an investor would want to know.
The new audit report standard also adds
