It’s widely recognized that the ‘silly season’ for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement is the culmination of their fiscal year. The interesting and seemingly frantic rush of enforcement actions seen in this period is considered by some, a reaction to ‘performance reporting pressures’ as discussed by Matt Levine in a recent column published in Bloomberg.
This concept of ‘performance reporting pressures’ implies an urge to deliver quantifiable results to measure against the SEC’s annual performance, leading to an apparent scramble by the SEC to bring as many enforcement actions forward as they can, prior to the end of their fiscal period.
Levine, in his column, particularly emphasizes the SEC enforcement cases that typically occur during the final days prior to the conclusion of the SEC’s fiscal year.
The detailed account of this ‘silly season’ phenomenon gives professional insight into the enforcement decisions that the SEC might otherwise handle differently if not under such timing and reporting constraints.
In addition to tracking the vicissitudes of SEC enforcement, Levine’s column is a valuable resource for legal professionals who are trying to predict SEC enforcement patterns. To ensure this prediction accurate, following comments and insights from industry experts like Levine on these patterns, is beneficial for both big corporations and law firms alike.
Many would argue that understanding the SEC’s enforcement patterns offers opportunities to prepare and mitigate any potential impact. Others might see it as evidence of the pressure on public agencies to ‘perform’ and deliver measurable results – a reflection perhaps of wider societal expectations in an era of data and metrics-driven decision making.