Gottbetter & Partners, LLP's business attorneys show client companies how they can benefit from careful attention to corporate governance issues. As a company grows, the standards of corporate formalities can become more demanding, and lapses in governance can have more damaging consequences as well. To learn how your company can profit from sound governance habits, contact our office in New York City.
The requirements of compliance with corporate law, organizational instruments and bylaws tend to become more complicated as a company grows. For newly organized companies, it is generally sufficient to satisfy the letter of state corporations statutes (or bylaws, to the extent they differ) with respect to annual and regular meetings, elections, special meetings, ratification and other governance basics. As companies grow and become interested in access to capital markets, however, they find that the demands of corporate governance increase significantly. G&P prepares corporate governance binders for the officers and directors of its clients covering issues like insider trading and Regulation FD.
Governance Issues as an Eligibility Standard for Listing on Major Exchanges
A company's ability to trade its shares on major exchanges such as NYSE/Amex or Nasdaq depends to some extent on its compliance with each exchange's stated corporate governance criteria, which explicitly impose high standards of integrity and transparency on their listed companies. For example, NYSE requires corporations to meet a number of strict standards, including:
- Majority of the board must be independent directors
- Standing audit, compensation and nominations/corporate governance committees must be composed only of independent directors
- Listed companies must adopt and disclose corporate governance guidelines
- Equity incentive plans must be approved by shareholders
Corporate governance disclosure and compliance is also an essential feature of SEC reporting and regulation, and can represent a major investor review factor in such required statements as the S-1 or Form 10 filings. Our lawyers can review current corporate governance documentation, guidelines and practices, and recommend improvements that can anticipate and avoid adverse comment from the SEC, a major exchange and/or FINRA.
For more information about G&P's experience with corporate governance and compliance issues, especially for private companies intending to go public, contact our office in New York.
