United States Securities and Exchange Commission
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) is a United States government agency having primary responsibility for enforcing the Federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry. The SEC was created by section 4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (now codified as Template:Usc). In addition to the 1934 Act that created it, the SEC enforces the Securities Act of 1933, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and other statutes. The laws providing for the SEC removed some regulatory authority from the Federal Trade Commission.
The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA) is a law that was passed to facilitate effective state regulation of electric utilities. PUHCA once required that SEC approval be obtained by a holding company prior to engaging in a non-utility business. On August 8, 2005, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law, repealing PUHCA. The repeal became effective on February 8, 2006.
The SEC consists of five Commissioners appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Their terms last five years and are staggered so that one Commissioner's term ends on June 5 of each year. To ensure that the SEC remains non-partisan, no more than three Commissioners may belong to the same political party. The President also designates one of the Commissioners as Chairman, the SEC's top executive. Within the SEC, there are four Divisions, 18 Offices and approximately 3,100 staff. Its headquarters is in Washington, D.C. and it has 11 regional and district Offices throughout the United States.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr, father of future President John F. Kennedy, to serve as the first Chairman of the SEC. For a list of other appointees, see: Securities and Exchange Commission appointees.
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Related legislation
- 1964 - Securities Act Amendments PL 88-467
- 1968 - Securities Disclosure Act PL 90-439
- 1975 - Securities and Exchange Act PL 94-29
- 1980 - Depository Institutions and Deregulation Money Control Act PL 96-221
- 1982 - Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act PL 97-320
- 1984 - Insider Trading Sanctions Act PL 98-376
- 1988 - Insider Trading and Securities Fraud Enforcement Act PL 100-704
- 1989 - Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement PL 101-73
- 1999 - Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act PL 106-102
- 2000 - Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000
- 2002 - Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Regulations on Annual Reporting
Every year and every quarter, publicly traded companies (that is, listed on an exchange) must file statements with the SEC. As part of the annual reporting requirement, the company's top management must provide a narrative account in addition to the numbers called the management discussion and analysis which provides an overview of the previous year of operations and how the company fared in that time period. Management will usually also touch on the upcoming year, outlining future goals and approaches to new projects.
Forms
See SEC Forms List by category
- SEC Form 4 (stock and stock options ownership and exercise disclosure)
- SEC Form S-1 (IPO)
See also
External links
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website
- What the SEC does
- SEC Historical Society - Archive and Museum -- nonprofit and independant from the SEC
- Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni, Inc.
- Get Email Alerts and RSS feeds from the companies you follow at www.secfilings.com