The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has published OSC Staff Notice 51-728 Corporate Finance Branch 2016-2017 Annual Report. The publication provides guidance to the individuals and entities the OSC oversees, and their advisors, to help them comply with regulatory obligations.
This year’s report focuses on issues and trends related to Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), non-GAAP financial measures, and forward-looking information, among other areas.
We continue to see deficiencies in the quality of issuers’ disclosures, and will be actively reviewing the use of non-GAAP financial measures and forward-looking information in the coming fiscal year,” said Huston Loke, Director of Corporate Finance at the OSC. “We encourage issuers to use this report as a guide to help improve their disclosure in these areas.
The report also provides an update on the branch’s policy initiatives for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, including the regulatory oversight of syndicated mortgage investments, the climate change disclosure review project, and considerations for reducing regulatory burden for non-investment fund reporting issuers.
The report also discusses the program for overseeing distributions in the exempt market, and outlines the continued focus on distributions under the offering memorandum exemption in the coming fiscal year.
The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices and to foster fair and efficient capital markets and confidence in the capital markets. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available here.