On October 31st, the SEC voted to adopt amendments to modernize the property disclosure requirements and related guidance for mining registrants under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Under these final rules, a registrant with material mining operations must disclose specified information regarding its mineral resources and reserves in its SEC filings. These amendments will provide investors with a more comprehensive understanding of a registrant’s mining properties, as well as more closely align the SEC’s disclosure requirements and policies for mining properties with current industry and global regulatory practices and standards as embodied by the Committee for Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO). The amendments also rescind Industry Guide 7 and consolidate the disclosure requirements for registrants with material mining operations in a new subpart of Regulation S-K.

On October 30th, the SEC proposed rule changes concerning variable annuities and variable life insurance contracts that would improve disclosure for investors. The amendments are aimed at helping investors better understand these contracts’ features, fees, and risks. They are also designed to aid investors in finding the information needed to make informed investment decisions more easily. The Commission is seeking public comment on their proposed modifications.

The IFRS Foundation has published a proposed update to the IFRS Taxonomy 2018, Common Practice (IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement). This Proposed Update is one of multiple updates released throughout the year to reflect amendments to International Financial Reporting Standards. The updates can represent changes to common practice elements, taxonomy architecture, or annual improvements that may include refinements to taxonomy data models in order to support consistent tagging or improvements that better reflect presentation and disclosure requirements.

The third pilot phase for N-PORT filers began on October 1, 2018. From October 1 through March 31, 2019, filers will be able to submit test filings of the N-PORT forms to EDGAR. Live filings will not be permitted and will be rejected until April 1, 2019.

On October 1, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contains changes to the N-CEN and N-PORT EDGAR forms as well as improvements to EDGAR XBRL validation in addition to other changes.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is planning to release EDGAR 18.3 in October 2018. The EDGAR Filer Manual (Volume II) will also be updated to Version 48 with this release. These changes will take effect on October 1 if approved (for non-rule based changes; see the SEC Final Rules posted here for rule-based changes and their implementation dates).

On July 18th, the SEC announced it will adopt amendments to Regulation ATS to enhance operational transparency and regulatory oversight of alternative trading systems (ATSs). This pertains to such systems that trade stocks listed on a national securities exchange (NMS Stock ATSs).

On July 9, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.2 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contains a number of changes to various EDGAR forms as well as support for the IFRS 2018 XBRL taxonomy.

On June 28, 2018, the SEC voted to adopt amendments to the XBRL reporting requirements that would require registrants to use the Inline XBRL format for the submission of financial statement information and fund risk/return summary information.

With the last EDGAR release, the Securities and Exchange Commission updated EDGAR to accept the US GAAP 2018 taxonomy among other new taxonomies. It’s always a good practice to transition your SEC filings as soon as possible when the SEC accepts the new taxonomy year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun accepting XBRL filings under the new 2018 US-GAAP Taxonomy. Four of the nine SEC-maintained XBRL taxonomies have been altered: the DEI, EXCH, RR,
and STPR taxonomies.

On March 12, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.1 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release introduces new form types SF-1MEF and 486BXT and contains various changes and corrections to other forms.

On February 12th, the SEC released a notice to N-CEN and N-PORT filers to remind them of the temporary final rule which requires funds in larger fund groups (for example, fund groups with $1 billion or more in net assets) to maintain in their records the information that is mandated to be included in Form N-PORT in lieu of filing this form via EDGAR. The temporary final rule applies until April 1, 2019. Of key importance, the information the funds in larger fund groups maintain in their records will be subject to examination by the Commission. New Forms N-PORT and N-CEN were adopted by the SEC on October 13th, 2016 in an effort to enhance transparency and modernize reporting requirements for registered investment companies.

The SEC announced on December 8th, 2017 that filing Form N-PORT on the EDGAR system will now not become mandatory until April 2019 for larger fund groups and April 2020 for smaller fund groups. However, these groups should still prepare and maintain N-PORT information in their records and make it available to the SEC upon request. This decision to modify Form N-PORT’s filing requirements comes as the agency continues its previously announced review and uplift of its EDGAR and other systems.

To aid filers avoid missing deadlines and reduce congestion around busy important filing dates, the SEC provides an anticipated peak filing schedule. Peak EDGAR filing times are estimated using historical data. The 2018 schedule is now available from the SEC.