On December 14, 2015, EDGAR 15.4 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contained new EDGAR forms and changes to the EDGAR Filer Manual that detail how the SEC chooses to render XBRL reports.

With the release of EDGAR 15.4, filers will be able to file Part III of Form X-17A-5 electronically. Form X-17A-5 contains information required of broker-dealers pursuant to Section 17 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

With its recent adoption of Regulation Crowdfunding, the SEC has decided to propose changes to other exempt offerings in an effort to modernize them. Crowdfunding is poised to change the way that small businesses raise capital, and the SEC is seeking to increase the utility of existing rules and facilitate capital formation by smaller companies.

The SEC adopted a number of new regulations in 2015 and many of them have rules and new EDGAR forms that will become effective in 2016. In the first and second quarter of next year, expect a number of changes to EDGAR to accommodate these changes.

Granted, it’s not the first thing you rush to do when there’s a change with the contact information at your company, but keeping the SEC abreast of such changes is an important task that often gets overlooked. The contact information you or your company has provided to the EDGAR System is what the SEC staff uses to communicate with you about the status of your filings. If this information is not up to date, there could be an unnecessary delay while the SEC attempts to find a way to contact you or someone at your company who is knowledgeable about your EDGAR filings.

The SEC made a few changes to their EDGAR Renderer (XBRL Viewer) and quietly released version 3.3 in the beginning of November. Most of the changes are improvements and address issues that were introduced with the previous release of the software.

The SEC adopted the final rule allowing companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding on October 30, 2015. These new rules (Regulation Crowdfunding) require companies who opt to raise money through crowdfunding to provide the SEC with new disclosures via EDGAR and are expected to take effect during the second quarter of 2016.

Schedule 13D and Schedule 13G are similar forms that are used to report a party’s ownership of stock that is over 5% of a class of equity in a company. Because ownership of over 5% in a public company is significant ownership, you must declare it to the public. When you should file each of these schedules depends on additional criteria.

The Novaworks support team frequently receives queries about images missing from SEC test filings or text being incorrectly positioned in areas such as prospectus cover pages when a submission is sent with the “return copy” option enabled, so we've provided a quick lesson on what the return copy is and how to use it.

Last month, the SEC proposed changes to its Rules of Practice involving administrative proceedings, which would require people involved in administrative proceedings to file and serve documents electronically and would also, among other things, adjust the timing of hearings in administrative proceedings, allow for discovery depositions, and clarify the rules for admitting hearsay and assertion of affirmative defenses.

The Security and Exchange Commission has been engaged in a broad-based review, known as the Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative, in which SEC staff has been assessing SEC disclosure requirements as well as the presentation and delivery of disclosures.

Chair Mary Jo White announced the launch of a new rulemaking database on Thursday, September 24, in a bid to provide enhanced transparency into the Security and Exchange Commission’s rulemaking process.

On September 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission published a proposed rule that would require mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to implement liquidity risk management programs. Additionally, the SEC proposes to enhance disclosure regarding fund liquidity and redemption practices. The aim is to better ensure that investors can redeem shares and receive assets in a timely manner, particularly when investors are looking to exit during times of market turmoil.

On September 14, 2015, EDGAR 15.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contained new EDGAR forms and changes to exhibits.

Last month, changes to the SEC’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations became effective. These changes included an extension to the time frame for FOIA appeals in addition to increased fees for processing FOIA requests.