The SEC announced that they are publishing a final rule on amendments to the accelerated filer and large accelerated filer definitions. The objective of the amendment is “.. to more appropriately tailor the types of issuers that are included in the categories of accelerated and large accelerated filers and promote capital formation, preserve capital, and reduce unnecessary burdens for certain smaller issuers while maintaining investor protections.”
Under the new rule, filers will be required to add a check box to the cover pages of Forms 10-K, 20-F, and 40-F to indicate whether an ICFR auditor attestation is included in the filing. Under the new rule, issuers will be required to include the check box on their cover pages in any annual report filed on or after the final amendments’ effective date. The effective date is noted in the rule as 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The rule is scheduled to be published on March 26, 2020.
Once issuers are required to tag the cover page disclosure data using Inline XBRL, they will also be required to tag this cover page check box disclosure in Inline XBRL. The SEC noted that they do not expect the incremental compliance burden associated with tagging the additional cover page information to be significant, given that registrants already are being required on a phased-in basis to tag other cover page information as well as information in their financial statements.
Read the rule.
