SECURITIES DISCLOSURE
I believe 10-K’s, annual reports, proxy statements, and other investor communications should be written with care and a focus on clarity — not treated as a nuisance. Market participants want to understand these documents, and the SEC insists they should be able to. Combining my background as a corporate and securities attorney and my experience as a writer and editor, I craft disclosure documents that investors, analysts, regulators, and even lawyers will appreciate. Specifically, I will:
- Create SEC filings and other documents that your investors can read and understand.
- Free up your investor relations, accounting, finance, and executive compensation professionals to do other work.
- Help you to confine legal bills to true “legal” work — not editing.
- Produce documents that your attorneys, analysts, and regulators can review efficiently.
How do I do that? By filling a gap in the disclosure process. Of course you have systems to generate the raw information that public companies must disclose. But do you have the staff (and does your staff have the time and the skills) to convey that information in jargon-free, comprehensible reports?
Accounting, finance, and benefits personnel generally are not trained to explain financial concepts, business transactions, or the nuances of executive compensation plans in lay terms. Marketing professionals can communicate, but may not know the regulatory landscape. Counsel should always review disclosure materials to ensure they comply with securities laws, but if outside lawyers are drafting or editing your 10-K or proxy at their customary rates, your legal bills may be unnecessarily high.
As an experienced editor and former securities lawyer, I will help you improve your presentation without compromising your legal obligations. I will not act as securities counsel. Instead, I will help you generate reports that are ready for securities counsel to review — not rewrite.