“Business” Disclosure: How Much Should You Change?

In this 28-minute Vid-Guide, Skadden Arps’ Brian Breheny, Microsoft’s Peter Kraus and American Express’ David Kanarek – discuss how to approach the “Business” section for the Form 10-K (and 10-Q) given the recent regulation changes, including:

–  How do you decide which disclosures to eliminate from the “Business” section? (Love the advice from David at the 6:49 mark about including proposed deletions in drafts sent to the working group – you might not realize that some folks in your company rely upon a public disclosure that you don’t think is meaningful)

–  How might you enhance any disclosures about business strategy?

– What do you do now about your “governmental regulations” disclosure?

– How do you decide whether to keep older descriptions given that the 5-year lookback requirement has been removed?

– Might companies avail themselves of the option to link to previously-filed information rather than repeat it in a SEC filing?