Financial Reporting Challenges for 2012

(January 17, 2012, Weil Alert)

Companies now focusing on preparing their upcoming annual reports on Form 10-K have the benefit of wide-ranging disclosure guidance issued in 2011 by the Securities and Exchange Commission and its staff. The overarching theme of this guidance, which we discuss in the attached Client Alert, is the importance of providing "early-warning" disclosures -- in the MD&A and Risk Factor sections of periodic reports, as well as the financial statement footnotes -- of material risks and uncertainties that, if realized, could have a material adverse effect on a company's liquidity, capital resources or operating results. We also discuss recent SEC staff guidance regarding two specific categories of risk -- cybersecurity threats and exposure to potential European sovereign and private debt defaults -- as well as the renewed focus on audit committees by the SEC and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

To read the Alert please follow this link.