Profession in Focus: A Conversation with SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director during COVID-19

In this Profession in Focus webisode, the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance Bill Hinman and CAQ Executive Director Julie Bell Lindsay have a discussion on critical reporting and disclosure issues facing public companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Watch the full video to hear Bill’s insights on topics such as forward-looking disclosures, non-GAAP financial measures, the quality of disclosures made by registrants during COVID-19, the staff’s plans to respond to the SEC Investor Advisory Committee’s recommendations regarding ESG disclosures and the SEC’s recent Roundtable on Emerging Markets.

Jump to a topic:

Can you comment on what prompted you to issue statements and guidance regarding reporting issues resulting from the pandemic, and the observations of the Division Staff as to how companies responded?

How will management and companies know what good faith estimates look like?

What has the SEC staff observed in regards to company disclosures in the wake of disclosure guidance topics Topic 9 and Topic 9A?

  Is the Division looking to issue additional guidance?

Are there any disclosure practices regarding non-GAAP measures that have raised concern with the staff in their reviews of company disclosures?

Can you comment on the new human capital disclosure requirements, and other ways the SEC plans to respond to the Advisory Committee’s recommendation?

What were some of the key takeaways from the SEC’s Roundtable on Emerging Markets? How will the recommendations made recently by the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets interact with those takeaways to drive Commission action?