Year-End Tool Kit
Goodwin Announces Collaboration with CBE
Goodwin is excited to announce that we have collaborated with the Center for Board Excellence (CBE) to provide electronic versions of the questionnaires in our Year-End Tool Kit on the CBE EnGauge platform. CBE's unique platform offers a secure cloud-based process for the Year-End Tool Kit questionnaires that allows simplified access on personal computers or tablets. Each questionnaire reflects each individual’s status as an officer, director and/or board committee member. It also simplifies the company's management of the process by maintaining the questionnaires and information received from the company's directors and officers in a dynamic database. This allows CBE to provide the company with the ability to include pre-populated information for each individual, such as their biography and beneficial ownership of the company’s equity securities. CBE also provides a unified report showing the answers provided by all respondents (with changes redlined and highlighted, where applicable, from the prior year or from updates provided during the year). Goodwin clients that use the Year-End Tool Kit forms on the CBE EnGauge platform may be eligible for a special discount from CBE’s regular pricing. For more information, visit the Goodwin landing page on the CBE website.
For 2017 Year-End Reporting and 2018 Annual Meetings
Goodwin’s 2017-2018 Year-End Tool Kit is designed to help our public company clients prepare for 2017 year-end reporting and the 2018 annual meeting season.
The 2017-2018 Year-End Tool Kit contains the following sections:
- 2017-2018 Disclosure Developments
- NYSE Companies: basic director and executive officer questionnaires
- Nasdaq Companies: basic director and executive officer questionnaires
- Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaires: ISS/CII independence, Iran-related activities, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and “Bad Actor” questionnaires
- SEC Compensation Disclosure Worksheets: general and Smaller Reporting Company/Emerging Growth Company versions
- REITs
- Calendars: comprehensive Public Company Annual Timetable and shorter SEC Filing Deadlines and Holiday Calendar
- Checklists: guides for preparation of Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and proxy statements
As always, we hope our Year-End Tool Kit makes your year-end reporting and annual meeting preparation more efficient and effective. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
For regular updates on Year-End Toolkit, follow #GoodwinYETK on Twitter.
Recent Publications
2017-2018 Disclosure Developments
This section contains our annual overview of disclosure-related developments as well as selected Goodwin client alerts for public companies published during 2017.
NYSE Companies
The documents below have been prepared to assist NYSE-listed companies with 2017 year-end reporting and 2018 annual meetings. The questionnaires under "Information Gathering Tools" may be supplemented with some or all of the questionnaires in the Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaires section.
Director and Officer Questionnaire (General) *
Director and Officer Questionnaire–Short Form (General) *
NYSE Director Independence and Audit/Compensation Committee Matters Questionnaire
Form 5 and Section 16 Reporting Director and Officer Questionnaire
* Please note that the Director and Officer Questionnaires may require revisions depending on the extent to which companies intend to rely on these Questionnaires as part of their controls relating to Auditing Standard 18.
Nasdaq Companies
The documents below have been prepared to assist Nasdaq-listed companies with 2017 year-end reporting and 2018 annual meetings. The questionnaires under "Information Gathering Tools" may be supplemented with some or all of the questionnaires in the Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaires section.
Information Gathering Tools
Director and Officer Questionnaire (General) *
Director and Officer Questionnaire–Short Form (General) *
Nasdaq Director Independence and Audit/Compensation Committee Matters Questionnaire
Form 5 and Section 16 Reporting Director and Officer Questionnaire
* Please note that the Director and Officer Questionnaires may require revisions depending on the extent to which companies intend to rely on these Questionnaires as part of their controls relating to Auditing Standard 18.
Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaires
The questionnaires in this section may be used to supplement the other director and officer questionnaires in the Year-End Tool Kit.
The ISS and CII Supplemental Director Independence Standards Questionnaire asks for information necessary to determine whether directors will satisfy ISS and/or CII director independence standards.
The Iran-Related Activities Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaire can be used to gather more detailed information that may be needed to determine whether SEC disclosure is required under the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012. It can be used either to follow up on "yes" responses to the related questions in the general Director and Officer Questionnaire or to replace the related questions in the general Director and Officer Questionnaire (in which case those questions can be deleted).
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaire addresses compliance and disclosure obligations of companies that may be subject to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The Rule 506(d) and 506(e) Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaire can be used by companies that expect to engage in an offering under Rule 506(b) or Rule 506(c) during the year. Please note that this questionnaire is intended only for a company’s directors, executive officers and certain other company officers and shareholders, and not for entities (including the company) or distribution participants such as broker-dealers. Depending on the amount of time between when this questionnaire is circulated and when an offering is commenced, the company may need to update this questionnaire at the same time that a corresponding questionnaire is circulated to other persons covered by Rules 506(d) and 506(e).
These questionnaires have been prepared in a format that enables a company to include one or more of the questionnaires as separate, modular additions to packages distributed to some or all of the company's directors and/or officers.
ISS and CII Supplemental Director Independence Standards Questionnaire
Iran-Related Activities Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaire
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaire
Rule 506(d) and 506(e) "Bad Actor" Events Supplemental Director and Officer Questionnaire
SEC Compensation Disclosure Worksheets
The Executive Compensation Worksheets below can be used in connection with preparation of the executive compensation disclosure required in proxy statements by Item 402 of Regulation S-K. The version for smaller reporting companies and emerging growth companies should be used only by eligible companies that elect to report using the applicable scaled reporting provisions under SEC rules.
Executive Compensation Worksheet
Executive Compensation Worksheet for Smaller Reporting and Emerging Growth Companies
REITs
The documents in this section can be used by real estate investment trusts (REITs) in connection with the requirement that REITs demand ownership information from certain stockholders each year.
Cover Letter for REIT Shareholder Demand Letter Documents
REIT Shareholder Demand Letter
REIT Shareholder Ownership Statement
Calendars
The Public Company Annual Timetable is a detailed compliance calendar that includes many corporate governance, SEC reporting and compliance action items.
The SEC Filing Deadlines and Holiday Calendar is a concise guide to key SEC and stock exchange dates for public companies.
Checklists
The three checklists below summarize SEC disclosure requirements for Form 10-K annual reports, proxy statements and Form 10-Q quarterly reports. They can be used to assign and track responsibility for specific sections of the Form 10-K, proxy statement and Form 10-Q. References to SEC forms, rules and other regulatory materials are included for cases where further information is required.
Form 10-K Checklist and Responsibilities Table