Regulation S-B
 
Item 10 General
a.
Application of Regulation
S-B. Regulation S-B is the source of disclosure requirements for "small
business issuer" filings under the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities
Act") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange
Act").
1.
Definition of small
business issuer. A small business issuer is defined as a company that
meets all of the following criteria:
i. has
revenues of less than $25,000,000;
ii. is
a U.S. or Canadian issuer;
iii. is not an investment company and is not an
asset-backed issuer (as defined in § 229.1101 of this chapter); and
iv. if
a majority owned subsidiary, the parent corporation is also a small business
issuer.
Provided however, that an entity is not a small business issuer
if it has a public float (the aggregate market value of the issuer's outstanding
voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates) of $25,000,000
or more.
Note: The public float of a reporting company
shall be computed by use of the price at which the stock was last sold,
or the average of the bid and asked prices of such stock, on a date within
60 days prior to the end of its most recent fiscal year. The public float
of a company filing an initial registration statement under the Exchange
Act shall be determined as of a date within 60 days of the date the registration
statement is filed. In the case of an initial public offering of securities,
public float shall be computed on the basis of the number of shares outstanding
prior to the offering and the estimated public offering price of the securities.
2.
Entering and Exiting
the Small Business Disclosure System.
i. A
company that meets the definition of small business issuer may use Form
SB-2 for registration of its securities under the Securities Act; Form
10-SB for registration of its securities under the Exchange Act; and Forms
10-KSB and 10-QSB for its annual and quarterly reports.
ii. For
a non-reporting company entering the disclosure system for the first time
either by filing a registration statement under the Securities Act on
Form SB-2 or a registration statement under the Exchange Act on Form 10-SB,
the determination as to whether a company is a small business issuer is
made with reference to its revenues during its last fiscal year and public
float as of a date within 60 days of the date the registration statement
is filed. See Note to paragraph (a) of this Item.
iii. Once
a small business issuer becomes a reporting company it will remain a small
business issuer until it exceeds the revenue limit or the public float
limit at the end of two consecutive years. For example, if a company exceeds
the revenue limit for two consecutive years, it will no longer be considered
a small business. However, if it exceeds the revenue limit in one year
and the next year exceeds the public float limit, but not the revenue
limit, it will still be considered a small business. See
Note to paragraph
(a) of this Item.
iv. A
reporting company that is not a small business company must meet the definition
of a small business issuer at the end of two consecutive fiscal years
before it will be considered a small business issuer for purposes of using
Form SB-2, Form 10-SB, Form 10-KSB and Form 10-QSB. See
Note to paragraph
(a) of this Item.
v. The
determination as to the reporting category (small business issuer or other
issuer) made for a non-reporting company at the time it enters the disclosure
system governs all reports relating to the remainder of the fiscal year.
The determination made for a reporting company at the end of its fiscal
year governs all reports relating to the next fiscal year. An issuer may
not change from one category to another with respect to its reports under
the Exchange Act for a single fiscal year. A company may, however, choose
not to use a Form SB-2 for a registration under the Securities Act.
b.
Definitions of terms.
1. Common
Equity -- means the small business issuer's common stock. If the small
business issuer is a limited partnership, the term refers to the equity
interests in the partnership.
2. Public
market -- no public market shall be deemed to exist unless, within the
past 60 business days, both bid and asked quotations at fixed prices (excluding
"bid wanted" or "offer wanted" quotations) have appeared
regularly in any established quotation system on at least half of such
business days. Transactions arranged without the participation of a broker
or dealer functioning as such are not indicative of a "public market."
3. Reporting
company -- means a company that is obligated to file periodic reports
with the Securities and Exchange Commission under
section 15(d) or
13(a)
of the Exchange Act.
4. Small
business issuer -- refers to the issuer and all of its consolidated subsidiaries.
c.
Preparing the disclosure
document.
1. The
purpose of a disclosure document is to inform investors. Hence, information
should be presented in a clear, concise and understandable fashion. Avoid
unnecessary details, repetition or the use of technical language. The
responses to the items of this Regulation should be brief and to the point.
2. Small
business issuers should consult the General Rules and Regulations under
the Securities Act and Exchange Act for requirements concerning the preparation
and filing of documents. Small business issuers should be aware that there
are special rules concerning such matters as the kind and size of paper
that is allowed and how filings should be bound. These special rules are
located in Regulation C of the Securities Act and in Regulation 12B of
the Exchange Act.
d.
Commission policy on
projections. The Commission encourages the use of management's projections
of future economic performance that have a reasonable basis and are presented
in an appropriate format. The guidelines below set forth the Commission's
views on important factors to be considered in preparing and disclosing
such projections. (See also
Rule
175 under the Securities Act and
Rule
3b-6 under the Exchange Act).
1. Basis
for projections. Management has the option to present in Commission filings
its good faith assessment of a small business issuer's future performance.
Management, however, must have a reasonable basis for such an assessment.
An outside review of management's projections may furnish additional support
in this regard. If management decides to include a report of such a review
in a Commission filing, it should also disclose the qualifications of
the reviewer, the extent of the review, the relationship between the reviewer
and the registrant, and other material factors concerning the process
by which any outside review was sought or obtained. Moreover, in the case
of a registration statement under the Securities Act, the reviewer would
be deemed an expert and an appropriate consent must be filed with the
registration statement.
2. Format
for projections. Traditionally, projections have been given for three
financial items generally considered to be of primary importance to investors
(revenues, net income (loss) and earnings (loss) per share), projection
information need not necessarily be limited to these three items. However,
management should take care to assure that the choice of items projected
is not susceptible to misleading inferences through selective projection
of only favorable items. It generally would be misleading to present sales
or revenue projections without one of the foregoing measures of income.
The period that appropriately may be covered by a projection depends to
a large extent on the particular circumstances of the company involved.
For certain companies in certain industries, a projection covering a two
or three year period may be entirely reasonable. Other companies may not
have a reasonable basis for projections beyond the current year.
3. Investor
understanding. Disclosures accompanying the projections should facilitate
investor understanding of the basis for and limitations of projections.
The Commission believes that investor understanding would be enhanced
by disclosure of the assumptions which in management's opinion are most
significant to the projections or are the key factors upon which the financial
results of the enterprise depend and encourages disclosure of assumptions
in a manner that will provide a frame-work for analysis of the projection.
Management also should consider whether disclosure of the accuracy or
inaccuracy of previous projections would provide investors with important
insights into the limitations of projections.
e.
Commission policy on
security ratings. In view of the importance of security ratings ("ratings")
to investors and the marketplace, the Commission permits small business
issuers to disclose ratings assigned by rating organizations to classes
of debt securities, convertible debt securities and preferred stock in
registration statements and periodic reports. In addition, the Commission
permits, disclosure of ratings assigned by any nationally recognized statistical
rating organizations ("NRSROs") in certain communications deemed
not to be a prospectus ("tombstone advertisements"). Below are
the Commission's views on important matters to be considered in disclosing
security ratings.
1.
i. If
a small business issuer includes in a filing any rating(s) assigned to
a class of securities, it should consider including any other rating assigned
by a different NRSRO that is materially different. A statement that a
security rating is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities
and that it may be subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the
assigning rating organization should also be included.
ii.
A. If
the rating is included in a filing under the Securities Act, the written
consent of any rating organization that is not a NRSRO whose rating is
included should be filed. The consent of any NRSRO is not required. (See
Rule
436(g) under the Securities Act.)
B. If
a change in a rating already included is available before effectiveness
of the registration statement, the small business issuer should consider
including such rating change in the prospectus. If the rating change is
material, consideration should be given to recirculating the preliminary
prospectus.
C. If
a materially different additional NRSRO rating or a material change in
a rating already included becomes available during any period in which
offers or sales are being made, the small business issuer should consider
disclosing this information in a sticker to the prospectus.
iii. If
there is a material change in the rating(s) assigned by any NRSRO(s) to
any outstanding class(es) of securities of a reporting company, the registrant
should consider filing a report on Form 8-K or other appropriate report
under the Exchange Act disclosing such rating change.
2. [Reserved]
f.
Incorporation by Reference.
Where rules, regulations, or instructions to forms of the Commission permit
incorporation by reference, a document may be so incorporated by reference
to the specific document and to the prior filing or submission in which
such document was physically filed or submitted. Except where a registrant
or issuer is expressly required to incorporate a document or documents
by reference, reference may not be made to any document which incorporates
another document by reference if the pertinent portion of the document
containing the information or financial statements to be incorporated
by reference includes an incorporation by reference to another document.
No document on file with the Commission for more than five years may be
incorporated by reference except:
1. Documents
contained in registration statements, which may be incorporated by reference
as long as the registrant has a reporting requirement with the Commission;
or
2. Documents
that the registrant specifically identifies by physical location by SEC
file number reference, provided such materials have not been disposed
of by the Commission pursuant to its Records Control Schedule (17 CFR
200.80f).
g.
Quantitative and qualitative
disclosures about market risk. The safe harbor provision included in
paragraph
(d) of Item
305 of Regulation S-K shall apply to information required by Item
305 of Regulation S-K that is voluntarily provided by or on behalf of
a small business issuer as defined in
Rule
12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Note to paragraph (g): Such small business
issuers are not required to provide the information required by
Item 305
of Regulation S-K.
h.
Use of non-GAAP financial
measures in Commission filings.
1.
Whenever one or
more non-GAAP financial measures are included in a filing with the Commission:
i.
The registrant
must include the following in the filing:
A. A
presentation, with equal or greater prominence, of the most directly comparable
financial measure or measures calculated and presented in accordance with
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP);
B. A
reconciliation (by schedule or other clearly understandable method), which
shall be quantitative for historical non-GAAP measures presented, and
quantitative, to the extent available without unreasonable efforts, for
forward-looking information, of the differences between the non-GAAP financial
measure disclosed or released with the most directly comparable financial
measure or measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP identified
in paragraph (h)(1)(i)(A) of this section;
C. A
statement disclosing the reasons why the registrant's management believes
that presentation of the non-GAAP financial measure provides useful information
to investors regarding the registrant's financial condition and results
of operations; and
D. To
the extent material, a statement disclosing the additional purposes, if
any, for which the registrant's management uses the non-GAAP financial
measure that are not disclosed pursuant to
paragraph (h)(1)(i)(C) of this
section; and
ii.
A registrant
must not:
A. Exclude
charges or liabilities that required, or will require, cash settlement,
or would have required cash settlement absent an ability to settle in
another manner, from non-GAAP liquidity measures, other than the measures
earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA);
B. Adjust
a non-GAAP performance measure to eliminate or smooth items identified
as non-recurring, infrequent or unusual, when the nature of the charge
or gain is such that it is reasonably likely to recur within two years
or there was a similar charge or gain within the prior two years;
C. Present
non-GAAP financial measures on the face of the registrant's financial
statements prepared in accordance with GAAP or in the accompanying notes;
D. Present
non-GAAP financial measures on the face of any pro forma financial information
required to be disclosed by Article
11 of Regulation S-X; or
E. Use
titles or descriptions of non-GAAP financial measures that are the same
as, or confusingly similar to, titles or descriptions used for GAAP measures;
and
iii. If
the filing is not an annual report on Form 10-KSB, a registrant need not
include the information required by paragraphs
(h)(1)(i)(C) and
(h)(1)(i)(D)
of this section if that information was included in its most recent annual
report on Form 10-KSB or a more recent filing, provided that the required
information is updated to the extent necessary to meet the requirements
of paragraphs (h)(1)(i)(C) and (h)(1)(i)(D) of this section at the time
of the registrant's current filing.
2.
For purposes
of this paragraph (h), a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure
of a registrant's historical or future financial performance, financial
position or cash flow that:
i. Excludes
amounts, or is subject to adjustments that have the effect of excluding
amounts, that are included in the most directly comparable measure calculated
and presented in accordance with GAAP in the statement of income, balance
sheet or statement of cash flows (or equivalent statements) of the issuer;
or
ii. Includes
amounts, or is subject to adjustments that have the effect of including
amounts, that are excluded from the most directly comparable measure so
calculated and presented.
3. For
purposes of this paragraph (h), GAAP refers to generally accepted accounting
principles in the United States.
4.
For purposes
of this paragraph (h), non-GAAP financial measures exclude:
i. Operating
and other statistical measures; and
ii.
Ratios or
statistical measures calculated using exclusively one or both of:
A. Financial
measures calculated in accordance with GAAP; and
B. Operating
measures or other measures that are not non-GAAP financial measures.
5. For
purposes of this paragraph (h), non-GAAP financial measures exclude financial
measures required to be disclosed by GAAP, Commission rules, or a system
of regulation of a government or governmental authority or self-regulatory
organization that is applicable to the registrant. However, the financial
measure should be presented outside of the financial statements unless
the financial measure is required or expressly permitted by the standard
setter that is responsible for establishing the GAAP used in such financial
statements.
6. The
requirements of paragraph (h) of this section shall not apply to a non-GAAP
financial measure included in disclosure relating to a proposed business
combination, the entity resulting therefrom or an entity that is a party
thereto, if the disclosure is contained in a communication that is subject
to Rule
425 under the Securities Act, Rules
14a-12
or 14d-2(b)(2)
under the Exchange Act or
Item
1015 of Regulation M-A.
Regulatory History |
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57 FR 36449, Aug.
13, 1992 60 FR 32824, June 23, 1995
62 FR 6044, 6064, Feb. 10, 1997
62 FR 26386, 26388, May 14, 1997
68 FR 4820, 4830, Jan. 30, 2003
SEC Release 33-8518: 70 FR 1506, Jan. 7, 2004 |
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