Governance Reform Central

A number of governance reform measures have been proposed or adopted by several constituents, including Congress, the SEC, and the U.S. stock exchanges. This page contains the latest information on these recent reforms.

Latest News

April 10, 2013 - The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that Mary Jo White was sworn in as the 31st Chair of the SEC.

April 2, 2013 - The SEC has issued a report that makes clear that companies can use social media outlets to announce key information in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD) so long as investors have been alerted about which social media will be used to disseminate such information.

January 28, 2013 - New corporate governance listing standards of the NYSE and NASDAQ were approved by the SEC - certain requirements apply beginning July 1, 2013.  Listing companies should start preparing now to conduct an independence assessment of compmensation consultants, outside legal counsel and other advisers that are retained by or provide advice to the compensation committee.  Listed companies will need to revisit the independence of compensation committee members under new, enhanced independence standards, and will need to revise their compensation committee charters to reflect the new standards. 

December 17, 2012 - The SEC passed Auditing Standards No. 16, a new standard on audit committee communications.  The primary objectives are to (1) enhance communications between auditors and audit committees and (2) improve audits by fostering constructive dialogue between the auditor and the audit commitee.

For further information refer to the Heads Up on the proposed rule issued on September 18, 2012.

August 22, 2012 - The SEC adopted its final rule regarding conflict minerals pursuant to Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act. 

SEC Comment letter

Deloitte’s SEC Comment Letter series includes extracts of frequently issued SEC staff comments, analysis, and links to resources that are relevant to SEC filers.

November 2012 - Learn about Deloitte’s perspective on the topics the SEC staff focused on in its comment letters to registrants in 2012.

Significant Reform Activity

• April 05, 2012 – President Obama signs the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 into law. Read its full text.

Related Articles

• Dodd-Frank Act Two-year Anniversary - Deloitte presents a series of issue-focused takeaways providing insights into the impact of this legislation.
• Annual Report on Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program - This is a Report of the Staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Updates Related to the Nasdaq

• March 4, 2013 – Nasdaq proposes to require listed companies to establish and maintain an Internal Audit function to provide management and the audit committee with ongoing assessments of the Company’s risk management processes and system of internal control. Nasdaq suggests that the Company may choose to outsource this function to a third party service provider other than its independent auditor. Read the proposal notice.