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Financial Statements, Financial Reporting and Auditing Toolkit
Practical Law Toolkit 6-580-3708 (Approx. 6 pages)
Financial Statements, Financial Reporting and Auditing Toolkit
by Practical Law Corporate & Securities
| Maintained • USA (National/Federal) |
Resources covering selected topics related to financial statements, financial reporting, and auditing that are relevant to the practice of corporate governance and capital markets attorneys.
Corporate counsel must understand the principles governing financial statements and the laws and regulations governing financial reporting and auditing to effectively perform many common tasks.
Counsel advising on corporate governance and periodic reporting matters must have a working knowledge of financial statements, financial reporting, and auditing to, among other things:
- Advise a company on Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 compliance issues, particularly those concerning the company's auditors and the company's internal control over financial reporting.
- Advise a company's audit committee on many topics.
- Assist in drafting, or reviewing, a company's Exchange Act reports, and in particular the management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations (MD&A) disclosure.
- Draft responses to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accounting comments on periodic reports.
- Advise a company that may need to restate its financial statements.
Counsel advising on capital markets matters must develop a working knowledge of accounting, auditing, and financial reporting to effectively:
- Perform due diligence on financial information included in an offering document.
- Draft and negotiate financial covenants governing debt securities.
- Advise an issuer on which financial information must be included in an offering document.
- Assist in drafting, or reviewing, offering document disclosure, and in particular the MD&A disclosure.
- Draft responses to SEC accounting comments on registration statements.
- Advise on whether a proposed offering timeline is feasible given the issuer's financial reporting calendar.
This Toolkit provides resources to help counsel get up to speed on selected topics related to financial statements, financial reporting, and auditing that are relevant to the practice of corporate governance and capital markets attorneys.