The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today released Staff Notice 51-706 Corporate Finance Branch Report 2008, which summarizes the activities of the Corporate Finance Branch for the 2008 fiscal year.

The OSC has oversight responsibility for approximately 1,100 reporting issuers who collectively represent $696 billion, or 34% of Canada’s total market capitalization.

The corporate finance branch says it conducted 452 continuous disclosure reviews in 2008, of which 256 were targeted reviews into areas including compliance with the financial instruments standards of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), asset-backed commercial paper and stock option granting practices.

Sixteen per cent of the issuers reviewed were required to restate and refile materials, to make retroactive changes or to file material that had not previously been filed.

“The majority of these refilings were as a result of deficient Management Discussion & Analysis, non-compliance with both MI 52-109 Certification of Disclosure in Issuers’ Annual and Interim Filings and with the CICA’s new financial instruments standards,” the OSC says.

“This report provides guidance designed to assist our stakeholders in complying with their regulatory obligations,” says Margo Paul, director of corporate finance. “The report gives us an opportunity to highlight areas of concern and tell issuers about new developments that will impact them in the coming year.”

In the coming year, the corporate finance branch will focus on several areas relating to new accounting standards and regulatory developments including financial instruments disclosure, the report says.

The report also highlights areas that will require issuer compliance in advance of the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards in 2011.

IE