SEC Staff Research Articles

SEC focuses on declining interest rates: Selecting appropriate assumptions in pensions and postretirement benefits accounting

AbstractDue to the decline in interest rates in 1993, the SEC staff is focusing on the discount rates being used for pension and postretirement benefit accounting under FASB Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (FAS) 87, “Employers' Accounting for Pensions,” and FAS 106, “Employers' Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions.”Employers will need to assess their discount rates and, for some, reduce those rates significantly.This article highlights the SEC staffs concerns and the important financial statement implications of reducing discount rates. We also provide employers with an effective action plan to deal with this issue.

1991 SEC form 10‐K checklist–income statement, cash flows, footnotes, and other miscellaneous topics—part 2

AbstractBecause of the many and varied reporting requirements that are imposed on public companies, a checklist is a useful tool in complying with applicable rules and regulations. Frequently, companies will use a financial statement checklist to cover the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) but will need an additional checklist for SEC reporting requirements The following checklist is a continuation of the 1991 SEC Form 10‐K Checklist that was presented in the Summer 1991 issue of Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance. It includes SEC rules for the income statement, statement of cash flows, footnotes, and other miscellaneous special topics in the Form 10‐K. Although it generally covers only the codified SEC rules, certain common reporting problems cited recently by the SEC staff are also addressed.

Using and understanding the SEC's disclosure rules manual

AbstractThe Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission recently made available to the public its internal Accounting Disclosure Rules Manual which it uses for training and review. The manual contains interpretations and practices that are followed by the SEC staff in administering the disclosure requirements of the securities laws. The Manual does not, however, constitute rules or interpretations that have formally been approved by the Commission. The Manual references its provisions to SEC rules, regulations, and Staff Accounting Bulletins as well as to professional accounting and auditing pronouncements. In addition, it also includes a number of instances referred to as “staffpractice” that cannot be located elsewhere. In this article, some of these staff practices are set forth verbatim. Following the quotations are explanations as to why it was necessary for the staff to codify such previously unwritten rules.

Common SEC staff comments

Common SEC staff comments

1991 SEC form 10-K checklist

Because of the many and varied reporting requirements that are imposed on public companies, a checklist is a useful tool in complying with applicable rules and regulations. Frequently, companies will use a financial statement checklist to cover the generally accepted accounting principles, but will need an additional checklist for SEC reporting requirements. The following checklist includes accounting-related SEC rules for the Form 10-K. Although it generally covers only the codified SEC rules, certain common reporting problems cited recently by the SEC staff, such as on the statement of cash flows, are also addressed. The MD&A section of the checklist includes the interpretive guidance issued in Financial Reporting Release No. 36 in 1989.

Insider Trading: Rule 10b-5, Disclosure and Corporate Privacy

Previous articleNext article No AccessInsider Trading: Rule 10b-5, Disclosure and Corporate PrivacyKenneth E. ScottKenneth E. Scott Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Legal Studies Volume 9, Number 4Dec., 1980The Law and Economics of Privacy Sponsored by The University of Chicago Law School Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/467665 Views: 40Total views on this site Citations: 19Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jonathan R. Macey The Central Role of Political Myth in Corporate Law, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2019).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3435676Guangzhong Li, Jie Li Managerial diversion, product market competition, and firm performance, China Economic Review 50 (Aug 2018): 240–264.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2018.04.009Robert W. McGee, Walter E. Block An Ethical Look at Insider Trading, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2014).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2419738Robert W. McGee Applying Ethics to Insider Trading, Journal of Business Ethics 77, no.22 (Jan 2007): 205–217.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9344-6Thomas A. Lambert A Middle Ground Position in the Insider Trading Debate: Deregulate the Sell Side, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2007).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1018758Michael J Whincop, David J Hillier, Allan Hodgson, Andrew Marshall An Economic Analysis of Trading on Private Information By External Administrators: International Comparisons, Journal of Corporate Law Studies 4, no.22 (Apr 2015): 421–464.https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2004.11419925Robert W. McGee Ethical Issues in Insider Trading: Case Studies, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2004).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.538682Ernst Maug Insider trading legislation and corporate governance, European Economic Review 46, no.99 (Oct 2002): 1569–1597.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0014-2921(02)00243-XKenneth E. Scott Insider Trading, (Jan 2002): 984–988.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-74173-1_186Donald C. Langevoort Cross‐Border Insider Trading, Journal of Financial Crime 8, no.33 (Jan 2001): 254–263.https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025991Michael G. Keenan INSIDER TRADING, MARKET EFFICIENCY, BUSINESS ETHICS AND EXTERNAL REGULATION, Critical Perspectives on Accounting 11, no.11 (Feb 2000): 71–96.https://doi.org/10.1006/cpac.1999.0378E. Theodore Veit, Michael R. Murphy Ethics violations: A survey of investment analysts, Journal of Business Ethics 15, no.1212 (Dec 1996): 1287–1297.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00411814Javier Estrada Insider trading: Regulation, securities markets, and welfare under risk aversion, The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 35, no.44 (Dec 1995): 421–449.https://doi.org/10.1016/1062-9769(95)90040-3Lucian Arye Bebchuk, Chaim Fershtman The effects of insider trading on insiders effort in good and bad times, European Journal of Political Economy 9, no.44 (Nov 1993): 469–481.https://doi.org/10.1016/0176-2680(93)90034-RRICHARD L. LIPPKE Justice and Insider Trading, Journal of Applied Philosophy 10, no.22 (Oct 1993): 215–226.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5930.1993.tb00077.xPeter Schörner Verringerung von Agency-Problemen bei börsengehandelten Unternehmungen und Insiderhandel, (Jan 1991): 196–246.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-02126-1_7Leo Katz The Assumption of Risk Argument, Social Philosophy and Policy 7, no.22 (Jan 2009): 138–169.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052500000790 Frank H. Easterbrook Insider Trading, Secret Agents, Evidentiary Privileges, and the Production of Information, The Supreme Court Review 1981 (Sep 2015): 309–365.https://doi.org/10.1086/scr.1981.3109548Robert W. McGee Insider Trading in Developing Economies, (): 57–65.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-84833-4_7