As the JOBS Act awaited President Obama’s signature this week, critics, emboldened by accounting issues at the recently public Groupon, continued to take aim at provisions alleged to roll back crucial investor protections. Passed by strong majorities in both the House and Senate, the principle purpose of the JOBS Act is to promote capital raising among startups by easing their paths toward an IPO. Opponents of the Act, however, claim that its relaxed financial disclosure standards invite a reemergence of Enron-era accounting fraud.
Recent news on internet startup Groupon has stoked much of that criticism. Last Friday, in response to an auditor’s determination of a “material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting,” the company revised fourth-quarter earnings down by $14.3 million.1 Had the Act been in place, Groupon’s revisions would not have been a product of adjusted reporting requirements; the relevant JOBS provisions apply only to companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue and $700 million in market cap, while Groupon earned 1.6 billion in 2011.2 Nonetheless, critics contend that events at Groupon highlight the risks associated with easing financial disclosure requirements, generally. Had the Act been law before Groupon went public last year, some point out, its annual revenue of less than $1 billion would have made it eligible for relaxed reporting requirements and the company’s questionable accounting methods may not have drawn the attention that they are getting now.3
Among the specific provisions targeted by the Act’s opponents is that which allows emerging companies on the verge of an IPO to have “private conversations with the S.E.C. about planned disclosures,” not to be made public until 21 days prior to an offering.4 Andrew Ross Sorkin of NYTimes Dealbook wrote recently that the provision, which allows companies to avoid “embarrassing public gaffes,” may benefit those seeking to go public who would otherwise be discouraged by accounting scrutiny, but is “awful for the investors, who rely on the transparency of the process.”5 Had the Act applied to Groupon’s public offering, Sorkin explained, “it is unlikely the public would have found out in time about a series of questionable accounting gimmicks and metrics that the company had hoped to employ to bolster its numbers investors.”6
The same day that Sorkin’s comments were published, The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Rapoport weighed in on the 21-day provision, characterizing it as permitting companies to “iron out disagreements with regulators behind closed doors before they go public.”7 This practice, Rapoport agreed, “might have prevented investors from finding out about Groupon’s early accounting questions until after they had been resolved.”8
Others, however, are less concerned. Joel Trotter, a Latham & Watkins attorney on the task force responsible for devising ways to make it easier for companies to file publicly, was quoted by Rapoport claiming that “three weeks is an extremely long time in assessing information relevant to an investment decision.”9 AOL Founder Steve Case has similarly responded that, while the bill is “not perfect,” it will ultimately “strike the right balance” between encouraging IPOs and maintaining appropriate disclosure standards.10
Opinions are clearly divided and the debate surrounding a 21-day notice provision barely scratches the surface of that division. If the last major adjustment to financial disclosure standards (See SOX 2002) provides any indication, it does not appear that the debate will be ending anytime soon.
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1. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/jobs-act-jeopardizes-safety-net-for-investors/
2. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023504577317932455874856.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
3. Id.
4. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/jobs-act-jeopardizes-safety-net-for-investors/
5. Id.
6. Id.
7. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304023504577317932455874856.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
8. Id.
9. Id.
10. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/jobs-act-jeopardizes-safety-net-for-investors/