Securities Update - March 2014

JUMPSTART OUR BUSINESS AND PUT IT IN NEUTRAL

By Brian J. Lynch and Kelly D. Martin

The SEC Staff Chooses to Propose Reform of Regulation S-K for all Public Companies Over Simplification for Emerging Growth Company Offerings

In December 2013, the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Corporation Finance issued to Congress its "Report on Review of Disclosure Requirements in Regulation S-K" (the S-K Study) that originally was mandated by the JOBS Act. The S-K Study can be found at http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/2013/reg-sk-disclosure-requirements-review.pdf.

The S-K Study went beyond the JOBS Act mandate, which tasked the Staff with determining how Regulation S-K requirements "can be updated to modernize and simplify the registration process and reduce the costs and other burdens associated with these requirements for issuers who are emerging growth companies." (emphasis added). The Staff instead focused its proposed reform efforts on