| Rulemaking by the Securities and Exchange Commission |
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| Federal agencies adopt rules to implement laws. Following the stock market crash in 1929, laws were passed to reform securities markets and to broaden the amount and accuracy of information to be made available to investors by issuers of securities. Those laws included the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Investment Company Act of 1940. The more recently enacted Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 provided additional requirements for corporate governance and disclosure of information. More... |
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| The Regulation A Registration Exemption for Small Securities Offerings |
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| Under section 3(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities and Exchange Commission has established Regulation A to exempt small offerings of securities from registration requirements. While the exemption does not relieve a company from its obligation not to use false or misleading statements or from state law requirements, Regulation A allows companies to issue and sell securities with less burden and expense than normally required. More... |
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| Short-Swing Profits |
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| Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C.S. § 78p(b), limits the ability of corporate insiders and principal stockholders to profit from their access to nonpublic information about their company. Under Section 16(b), profits from two trades of a company's publicly traded securities within six months by a director, officer, or beneficial owner of more than ten percent of a security of the company are owed to and may be recovered by the company. If the company does not retrieve those profits, shareholders may file a derivative action to obtain a court order to have the profits given over to the company. More... |
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| General Partnership Basics |
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| Partnerships are a traditional form for doing business. General partnerships are made up of two or more persons or entities, each of which takes part in and is responsible for the management of the partnership. Other partnerships and companies may be partners in a general partnership. More... |
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| Section 31 or SEC Transaction Fees |
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| Under Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C.S. § 78ee, the Securities and Exchange Commission recovers costs of regulating securities markets and transactions. Section 31 fees, which exceeded $1 billion in 2004, are "designed to recover the costs to the Government of the supervision and regulation of securities markets and securities professionals, and costs related to such supervision and regulation, including enforcement activities, policy and rulemaking activities, administration, legal services, and international regulatory activities." 15 U.S.C.S. § 78ee(a). More... |
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