SEC Reporting and Filing Bootcamp

This is one of our most popular in-house training sessions, covering two full days or a streamlined version in one day. The SEC's Integrated Disclosure System revolving around Regulations S-K and S-X can be daunting to understand and achieve compliance. This training focuses on SEC periodic reporting defined as filing the 10-K (annual form) and 10-Q (quarterly form) with the SEC, as well as other common filings such as the 8-K (current report) and annual proxy statement. These are public documents that can come back to haunt a company from a class-action civil lawsuit standpoint to the extent disclosures were not timely, accurate or comprehensive.

This is a “hands-on” workshop covering real-life scenarios, examples & tools to understanding SEC disclosure requirements and hot buttons. Understanding materiality thresholds, the SEC's review process, comment letter trends and other disclosure matters will help companies stay within the good graces of the SEC, investors, stock exchanges and other stakeholder groups. Topics include:

• Regulation S-K and S-X requirements
• Filing requirements and extension timelines
• Comment letter process
• Best practices for working with the SEC Division of Corporate Finance
• Effective SEC research to understand the full set of rules and regulations
• SEC hot buttons and recent enforcement actions
• Writing MD&As in Plain English
• SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance - Financial Reporting Manual
• SEC Staff Accounting Bulletins
• SEC Staff Legal Bulletins
• Sarbanes - Oxley Act's impact on SEC reporting
• Recent legislation, such as the JOBS Act and the FAST Act
• Emerging growth companies (EGCs)
• Smaller reporting company qualifications and disclosure options 
• How to properly complete all items on Form 10-K and 10-Q
• Recent examples of actual 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks and proxy statements
• Real-life scenarios to address familiar challenges
• Recognize ways to make the 10-K process less stressful
• Grasp the spirit underlying Management’s Annual Report on ICFR
• Understand the hot buttons of the PCAOB
• Identify opportunities to streamline Internal Control Over Financial Reporting (ICFR), also referred to as SOX-404 efforts
• Integrate IT, entity-level and accounting controls to best meet ICFR objectives
• Apply COSO’s Internal Control – Integrated Framework

• Understand the differences between disclosure controls and ICFR
• Identify common challenges in designing ICFR
• Explore roles, including those of the Internal Audit function
• Share actual work experiences for insights of possible solutions
• Understand minimum ICFR documentation requirements per SEC rules and regulations
• Learn leading practices for responding to SEC comment letters
• Mitigate the risk of adverse legal and regulatory actions through strong ICFR
• Master the disclosure requirements for using non-GAAP Financial Measures
• Consider risks associated with CEO and CFO quarterly certifications, i.e., Exhibits 31 and 32 to periodic reports
• Study recent SEC enforcement actions
• Consider recent SEC Speeches and what their likely impact will be