On February 25th, the SEC announced it would be opening registration for its compliance outreach program’s national seminar for investment companies and investment advisers. This event is intended to aid chief compliance officers (CCOs) and other senior personnel at investment companies and advisory firms in enhancing their programs to benefit the protection of investors. The compliance outreach program is jointly sponsored by the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, the Division of Investment Management, and the Asset Management Unit of the Division of Enforcement.

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On January 23rd, the SEC announced that it will host a conference that will focus on municipal securities, which are predominantly owned by Main Street investors and help finance important public projects, including schools, roads, and utilities. This conference, scheduled for March 10th, is entitled “Spotlight on Transparency: A Discussion of Secondary Market Municipal Securities Disclosure Practices”.

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On November 20th, the SEC announced it will host a conference on December 4th entitled "The State of Our Securities Markets". This conference will bring together current and former government officials and experts from different areas of the private sector as it explores the ever-changing economic, risk, and market environments. In addition, what these changes mean for the structure and function of the securities markets will be discussed. In particular, the conference with focus on macroeconomic trends (including their influence on capital markets), changes to the global equity and credit markets (including how today's markets are different from those of the early 2000s), and market concentration and fragmentation within certain areas of the securities market (including relevant causes and potential risks and effects).

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The SEC's Investor Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting on November 7th beginning at 9:30 am EST. The meeting, which is open to the public and free to attend, will take place in the Multipurpose Room at SEC Headquarters at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC. The Investor Advisory Committee was established to advise the SEC on regulatory priorities of securities products, trading strategies, fee structures, and the effectiveness of disclosure. In addition, the committee explores initiatives to protect investor interests and to promote investor confidence in the marketplace. Continue reading "SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Meet on..." »

The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a meeting on July 25 at 9 a.m. EST. This committee was established to advise the SEC on regulatory priorities and issues, including the regulation of securities products, trading strategies, fee structures, the effectiveness of disclosure, and initiatives to protect investor interests and promote investor confidence. Members of the committee represent a wide variety of investors, from individual and institutional investors to senior citizens and state securities commissions.

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The SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee will hold a meeting on August 13. This meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. CST (10:30 a.m. EST) and will be conducted at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. It is freely open to the public, but there is limited seating availability. In addition, the meeting will be webcast live on the SEC’s website and archived for later viewing. The full agenda for the meeting will be announced at a later date.

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The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance will be hosting a roundtable on July 18th at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. This roundtable will allow investors, issuers, and other market participants to speak about the impact of short-termism on capital markets and whether the SEC’s reporting system (or other aspects of the SEC’s regulatory approaches) should be modified to address these concerns.

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SEC Chairman Jay Clayton announced that the SEC will hold two events for Main Street investors in Boston on Monday, July 8th. The first event is a roundtable hosted by Chairman Clayton with Main Street Investors that will focus on the SEC’s ongoing investor education efforts. The roundtable will explore issues relevant to Main Street investors, such as understanding important differences between investment advisers and broker-dealers. Other senior SEC staff will join the event.

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On April 24th, the SEC announced the agenda for its May 31st forum that will discuss distributed ledger technology and assets. This conference, which is the 2019 FinTech Forum, will be held by the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) and will begin at 9:30 am EST in Washington, DC at the SEC’s Headquarters. It will be open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis.

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The SEC will hold a public forum discussing distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets on May 31st, 2019. The Commission’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) is organizing the forum, which was announced as part of the launch of FinHub last year. FinHub’s mission concerns maintaining active engagement with market participants about emerging financial technologies. As the second such meeting hosted by FinHub, the forum will focus on fostering greater communication and understanding around issues involving DLT and digital assets. It will feature panelists from industry and academia who will explore topics like initial coin offerings, digital asset platforms, DLT innovations, and the impact these technologies have on markets and investors.

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On October 18th, the SEC announced it is partnering with the National Center for Middle Market at The Ohio State University Max M. Fisher College of Business to host the SEC’s annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation. The Government-Business Forum, which is an annual forum providing a platform to highlight additional measures to improve small business capital formation, will be held on December 12th.

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Members of the SEC’s staff will host a two-day roundtable on October 25 and October 26 on market data and market access. This roundtable is hosted by the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets.

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Members of the SEC’s staff will host a roundtable on November 15 to hear investor, issuer, and other market participant views about the proxy process and rules. This roundtable will focus on key aspects of the proxy system in the US, including proxy voting mechanics and technology, the shareholder proposal process, and the role and regulation of proxy advisory firms.

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On April 3rd from 1:00 to 2:30 PM EST, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will host a webinar covering 2018 GAAP and SEC taxonomy improvements. During the webinar, the FASB staff will demonstrate how to apply the new modeling using example disclosures and discuss the new 2018 SEC Reporting Taxonomy.

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The CFA’s Investor Forum 2017, developed by XBRL US and held in sponsorship with CFA Institute and CFA Society New York, recently explored numerous issues applicable to the use of XBRL in the financial data analysis and reporting industries. During the conference, Michelle Savage, Vice President of Communication for XBRL US, and Scott Theis, CEO of Novaworks, LLC and Chairman of XBRL US’s Domain Steering Committee, discussed an earnings release case study that discussed how building an XBRL taxonomy to represent the data held within the release could be beneficial to the financial and investment communities.

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