Every now and then something happens in the market that almost demands for me to shout from the rooftops about what we’re doing here at Q4.
On August 1 the SEC issued new guidance that deems corporate web sites and blogs as compliant with Reg. FD providing that certain criteria are met. This allows a public company to disclose information on their corporate web site, without having to issue a press release through an approved news wire service.
What’s bad for the newswires, whom have long enjoyed a guaranteed flow of business, …

On September 24, 2008, representatives from the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) will hold a free information session for industry participants and members of the media on the increasing use and importance of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language).
The information session will feature expert speakers from the CSA and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who will discuss recent proposals by the SEC for the mandatory use of XBRL, as well as the move to XBRL in Canada.
“As a business reporting language, XBRL will make it easier for investors and analysts …

Earlier today the SEC Chairmen, Christopher Cox unveiled the successor to the form based EDGAR database.   The new system is called IDEA (Interactive Data Electronic Applications) and will be built on an XBRL based platform that will give investors access to faster and more detailed financial information than ever before.
IDEA is the latest in a string of significant announcements that have come out of the SEC including, XBRL mandate and the guidance on web disclosure and RegFD. There have already been a number of posts regarding this announcement and it …

Although we are not a proxy for the entire market it is interesting that since the SEC guidance on web disclosure we have seen a noticeable increase in clients looking to enable RSS feeds for their corporate web sites along with increasing the prominence of their email alerts. I’m really pleased to see this happening so close to the announcement and I think it is an early indication of the changes the SEC intended when it released the guidance. 
It is obvious that it is going to take some time for …

If you’ve had a chance to go through the 47 page guidance and specifically the section regarding “dissemination” of information and what “public” means in the context of RegFD and the corporate web site you’ve likely been left scratching your head thinking “ok, so now what?”The issue of what constitutes public information is one of the grey areas of the latest guidance. The purpose of this post is to try and provide some additional color to the guidance and help you understand what it is going to take in order …

Late last week the SEC issued guidance on how companies can use corporate web sites and blogs for the release of material information under regulation Fair Disclosure. This timely announcement has the potential to dramatically impact the corporate disclosure industry.
Rather than outlining the content of the guidance I thought I would provide some initial thoughts on what I see as being the key messages of the interpretive release. If you are not familar with the guidance please see the following links for more information.  
SEC Docs

The full SEC interpretive release (47 page PDF)
SEC Press …

Although XBRL has been around for 10 years now ( the history of XBRL ), the adoption and acceptance has only begun to significantly accelerate during 2007 with the support of Christopher Cox and the SEC. As part of the recent SEC draft advisory document “ SEC Advisory on Financial Reporting” there are details on the mandating of XBRL filing (see pages 74 to 87 in the PDF). The full report can be downloaded here (3MB)
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With the over arching trend of corporate disclosure being transparency, the pressures and risk of creating and distributing disclosure continue to increase. In addition to the financial disclosures, the majority of corporate disclosure occurs in non-financial form. These include commmunications such as press releases, corporate reports, presentations and web site content. The information disclosed through these channels is critical to providing the context and insight into the operations and results of your company. Not surprisingly, all of this information represents significant strategic value to your company while also …

If your company is like many others, it may not be maximizing the full potential of its disclosure to generate value. With the right disclosure controls and processes in place, your company could move beyond compliance to a more strategic use of disclosure – an approach that builds value by imparting a greater understanding of your organization.

MI 52-109 and SOX 302 (CEO/CFO Certification) have caused most companies to think more systematically about the processes surrounding their key disclosure documents. However, some officers may be genuinely unsure whether the controls and …

Improving Disclosure Controls and Procedures
In our discussions with North American issuers over the past 12 months, we have noticed a consistent and increasing trend in their desire to improve their disclosure controls and procedures. In addition to streamlining processes, a key objective is improving the results of CEO/CFO certification under SOX 302 or in Canada, MI 52-109.
Disclosure controls and procedures (DC&P) include, but are not limited to the information processes designed by companies to ensure that material information is accumulated and communicated to management, including certifying officers, as appropriate to …