Comments on: Comment letters: too late to be much use at Shufflemaster… http://www.footnoted.org/buried-treasure/comment-letters-too-late-to-be-much-use-at-shufflemaster/ Michelle Leder's guide to what's hiding in SEC filings Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:22:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Alex http://www.footnoted.org/buried-treasure/comment-letters-too-late-to-be-much-use-at-shufflemaster/comment-page-1/#comment-5785 Alex Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:07:25 +0000 http://www.footnoted.org/?p=1961#comment-5785 Here is a link to the SEC's policy on releasing comment letters: http://www.sec.gov/answers/edgarletters.htm Here's the initial press release, which discusses the 45 day policy: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2004-89.htm I agree that it is confusing -- you could look for filings one day, and find nothing, and then the next day you go back and there are comment letters from 2-3 months earlier. If a company has a number of filings in the interim, it might not even be on the first page of filings. I imagine you could set up an RSS feed for all correspondence filings (the SEC now allows RSS feeds), but I don't know if that would overwhelm you. I assume you could set up the RSS feed for any individual company. Interestingly, many companies don't include the correspondence on their website listings of filings -- under my reading, they are not required to do so (it's not a "filing"). So, investors may not see the letters if they don't go to the SEC's EDGAR site (and then look back 2 months). Keep up the excellent blogging -- you have found an excellent niche. Here is a link to the SEC’s policy on releasing comment letters: http://www.sec.gov/answers/edgarletters.htm

Here’s the initial press release, which discusses the 45 day policy: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2004-89.htm

I agree that it is confusing — you could look for filings one day, and find nothing, and then the next day you go back and there are comment letters from 2-3 months earlier. If a company has a number of filings in the interim, it might not even be on the first page of filings. I imagine you could set up an RSS feed for all correspondence filings (the SEC now allows RSS feeds), but I don’t know if that would overwhelm you. I assume you could set up the RSS feed for any individual company.

Interestingly, many companies don’t include the correspondence on their website listings of filings — under my reading, they are not required to do so (it’s not a “filing”). So, investors may not see the letters if they don’t go to the SEC’s EDGAR site (and then look back 2 months).

Keep up the excellent blogging — you have found an excellent niche.

]]> By: Michelle Leder http://www.footnoted.org/buried-treasure/comment-letters-too-late-to-be-much-use-at-shufflemaster/comment-page-1/#comment-5780 Michelle Leder Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:10:24 +0000 http://www.footnoted.org/?p=1961#comment-5780 Thanks, Alex, for your perspective. I guess the thing that's confusing to me (and I'm guessing lots of other people too) is how on the SEC's site, the letters (and responses) all get posted at the same time, even though they appear on the site chronologically. And, in this particular case, there's no evidence of the comment letters on the SEC site so the only way we know about them is because Shufflemaster chose to disclose them in the amended filings. I agree that you don't necessarily want open comment letters floating around since it could be much ado about nothing, but there needs to be a better system in place. Thanks, Alex, for your perspective. I guess the thing that’s confusing to me (and I’m guessing lots of other people too) is how on the SEC’s site, the letters (and responses) all get posted at the same time, even though they appear on the site chronologically. And, in this particular case, there’s no evidence of the comment letters on the SEC site so the only way we know about them is because Shufflemaster chose to disclose them in the amended filings.

I agree that you don’t necessarily want open comment letters floating around since it could be much ado about nothing, but there needs to be a better system in place.

]]> By: Alex http://www.footnoted.org/buried-treasure/comment-letters-too-late-to-be-much-use-at-shufflemaster/comment-page-1/#comment-5779 Alex Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:00:16 +0000 http://www.footnoted.org/?p=1961#comment-5779 It doesn't mean that it's still an open issue -- the SEC releases correspondence approximately 45 days after all comments are cleared (there may be several go arounds). In defense of this policy, often the SEC's comments are off point (for example, the examiner is asking a question to see if there is more there, or may simply have misunderstood certain disclosure), or the issuer is able to convince the SEC to change its position. If that letter sat out there for 2 weeks while the issuer crafted its response, the market may actually be more confused by the situation. I think the delay is appropriate. Perhaps there is no reason to wait 45 days, but I think the correspondence should all be released after the comment process is resolved. It doesn’t mean that it’s still an open issue — the SEC releases correspondence approximately 45 days after all comments are cleared (there may be several go arounds). In defense of this policy, often the SEC’s comments are off point (for example, the examiner is asking a question to see if there is more there, or may simply have misunderstood certain disclosure), or the issuer is able to convince the SEC to change its position. If that letter sat out there for 2 weeks while the issuer crafted its response, the market may actually be more confused by the situation. I think the delay is appropriate. Perhaps there is no reason to wait 45 days, but I think the correspondence should all be released after the comment process is resolved.

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