Market Trends 2020/21: Public Company Reporting and Corporate Governance

Summary

This practice note provides an overview of the notable market trends in corporate governance and public company reporting in 2020 and early 2021 and the outlook for the remainder of 2021. The year 2020 was unique in many ways due to the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing public companies and the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) to adapt to a much more virtual world and one that was facing significant disruption to its operations and business models. However, many familiar regulatory trends persisted despite the pandemic, such as the SEC continuing to simplify and modify periodic reporting requirements at the end of the Trump administration and both institutional investors and proxy advisory firms advocating for increased diversity and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reforms in response to social and environmental changes which occurred in 2020.