Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m back again with Miriam Rouziek, an Audit Manager and one of the faces of PKF Texas’s SEC team. Miriam, welcome back to the Playbook.
Miriam: Thank you for having me, Jen.
Jen: So, tell us what’s coming down the pipe with the SEC? Are they doing any updates this year in 2019?
Miriam: Yeah. The SEC is really going to start focusing on some different things here in 2019.
One of the things they’re going to focus on is cybersecurity. I know that’s really been important lately, because of some of the issues with cybersecurity, hacking and some of the other issues that come along with that, like selling information on the dark web. People are really concerned with that, and especially the SEC is concerned with that, because it represents a financial statement risk for our companies.
One of the other things they’re going to be looking at are things like disclosures. A lot of the issues that are coming out in current events, such as Brexit, and changes in interest rates, and especially changes in the use of LIBOR, I know that in England, they’re looking to get rid of that and replace it with something else, because it was easy to manipulate. The SEC is really going to be looking for disclosures on international events that impact companies.
Jen: Interesting. So, for our audience who might not know, what is LIBOR?
Miriam: LIBOR is the London Inter-bank Offering Rate. That’s something that’s calculated as a standard borrowing rate for international banks. A lot of debt agreements will have an interest rate that’s based on LIBOR. For example, it will be LIBOR plus 1%, or LIBOR plus 5%. Even for a domestic company that’s filing in the U.S., it could impact their interest rates and their borrowing.
Jen: Good to know. I know you keep on top of what the SEC is doing, and so we’ll get you back to talk a little bit more about some other things.
Miriam: All right. That sounds great.
Jen: For more about this topic, visit PKFTexas.com/SECDesk. This has been another Thought Leader Production brought to you by PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook. Tune in next week for another chapter.