Journal Article

Securities regulation of small public companies: what can we learn from the British?

Lipman, Frederick D, Bird, Tim

2009

Overview

Every major corporate scandal in the US generally has resulted in increased disclosure requirements by the SEC and enhanced corporate governance standards. These SEC rules have been applied generally to both large public companies as well as small public companies with only modest concessions to small public companies. The British have developed a lighter and more sensible approach to disclosure for small public companies listed on Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The SEC and Nasdaq would do well to study the AIM disclosure and corporate governance regulations. There is no empirical evidence that investors suffer any greater risk of fraud on AIM listed companies than on comparable small public companies listed in US markets. What is clear is that the AIM listed market is growing extremely rapidly and competes for listings with US markets that are more heavily regulation.

• Publisher: Aspen Publishers, Inc
• Subject: Accounting policies / Annual reports / Auditing standards / Boards of directors / Capital markets / Competitive advantage / Compliance / Corporate governance / Cost control / Disclosure / Disclosure (Securities law) / Financial reporting / Financial statements / Initial public offerings / International finance / Laws, regulations and rules / Market segments / New stock market listings / Public companies / Publicly held corporations / Regulation / Requirements / Revenue recognition / Scandals / SEC regulations / Securities / Securities markets / Securities regulations / Small business / Staff accounting bulletins / Stock exchanges / Stockholders