Registration Violations
By exempting many small offerings from the registration process, the SEC seeks to foster capital formation by lowering the cost of offering securities to the public.
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance may examine a company’s registration statement to determine whether it complies with our disclosure requirements. But the SEC does not evaluate the merits of offerings, nor do we determine if the securities offered are “good” investments.
While our rules require that companies provide accurate and truthful information, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in a company’s filings. In fact, every year we bring enforcement actions against companies who’ve “cooked their books” or failed to provide important information to investors. Investors who purchase securities and suffer losses should know that they have important recovery rights if they can prove that there was incomplete or inaccurate disclosure of important information.
To learn more about the SEC’s registration requirements—especially for small business owners—please read our brochure, entitled Q&A: Small Business and the SEC.
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