SEC’s Atkins Looks to Narrow Company Risk Factor Disclosures (1)

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering ways to narrow the disclosures companies make about possible risks to their businesses.

“If companies are not compelled to catalog nearly every conceivable contingency to guard against hindsight litigation, then they can focus on risks that are more distinctive to their business,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in prepared remarks at a Texas A&M University School of Law event on Tuesday.

Atkins has previously said that firms’ disclosures need to be modernized and public companies spend $2.7 billion a year to file their annual reports. He told lawmakers last week ...