Gensler: Climate Risk Proposal by Year-End

carbon offsets

SEC chairman Gary Gensler said today that he wants a draft proposal for mandatory climate risk disclosures by the end of this year, and dropped more hints than ever before about what that proposal might entail. Gensler made his remarks on a webinar hosted by Principles for Responsible Investment, a think tank that supports more…

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Another Crenshaw Speech on SEC Policy

penalties

SEC commissioner Caroline Crenshaw was at it again last week, delivering another speech about what the Securities & Exchange Commission should do to be a more effective regulator for current times. Compliance professionals should heed her words, since Crenshaw is shaping up to be the resident progressive theorist among the five commissioners. That matters in…

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More SEC Talk on ESG Disclosures

ESG

Another day, another statement from the Securities and Exchange Commission about how the agency might approach enhanced ESG disclosures. This time we have a speech from the acting head of the Division of Corporation Finance, getting a bit more specific about how an enhanced ESG disclosure regime might work in practice. The statement came from…

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SEC Warning Shot on Climate Disclosure

carbon offsets

The acting head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said today that agency staff will start paying more attention to companies’ climate change disclosures, as a prelude to the SEC updating its original climate change guidance now 11 years old.  Allison Herren Lee, acting chair since the Biden Administration took office in January, released her…

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Digging Into Diversity Disclosures

diversity

The other week we had a post on what companies are saying about ethics and corporate culture in the new human capital disclosures now required in annual reports. Today I want to circle back to another subset of that information: what companies are saying about their diversity and inclusion efforts.  Diversity disclosures have been on…

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Bracing for More Corporate Disclosure

disclosure

The Extractive Payments Rule adopted by the SEC last week was notable because all five commissioners published explanatory statements along with their votes. Those statements, in turn, are notable for their dueling messages about business conduct and what counts as material information for investors under federal securities law.  Compliance officers should give this conflict some…

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More on Biden, Compliance, and 2021

anti-corruption

Today we pivot back to the incoming Biden Administration and what corporate compliance officers should anticipate as we all plan budgets and priorities for 2021. We have more insight now into who might lead important regulatory agencies under President Biden, and into what policy goals or enforcement efforts a Biden Administration would be able to…

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Fiat’s Lessons in Audits, Disclosure

Fiat

Sometimes an enforcement action cuts across numerous branches of governance failure, to offer lessons for all manner of risk assurance professionals. Such a thing happened last week, when Fiat Chrysler agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle charges that it wasn’t honest with investors about an investigation into auto-emissions cheating devices. What we have, according…

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SEC Talks Covid Disclosures

Just in time for the end of second quarter, the Securities and Exchange Commission has published another dollop of guidance about financial disclosures companies should keep in mind as they navigate Covid-19.  The statement came Tuesday from chief accountant Sagar Teotia. It’s the latest in a series of pronouncements SEC officials have made since early…

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SEC Proposes Disclosure Reforms

enforcement

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules meant to simplify corporate financial disclosure, and also fired off a piece of guidance about how companies should approach non-financial metrics they might want to include in securities filings.  The proposed rules weren’t exactly a surprise; the SEC has long talked about wanting to streamline the…

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