Making Annual Report Summaries Easier to Understand (H.R. 4569)

What is H.R. 4569?

(Updated January 31, 2017)

This bill allows issuers — any legal entity that develops, registers and sells securities — to make the summary report of annual reports (also known as 10-K reports) easier to understand. 

In order to do this, the bill directs the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct a study to see how to make summary pages more comprehensible. If the bill is enacted, a summary page with cross-linked data must be made available within 180 days of the bill's enactment date. The SEC would also be mandated to help smaller companies by removing the need for any "duplicative or unnecessary provisions."

Argument in favor

This bill is a strongly bipartisan effort to make summary pages of annual reports easier for investors to understand.

Argument opposed

The bill requires the SEC to conduct a study to determine what “easier” is, as opposed to offering guidelines in the bill.

Impact

This bill impacts investors and the annual reports for companies they are invested in, or might plan to invest in; the SEC, and issuers.

Cost of H.R. 4569

A CBO cost estimate found that implementing H.R. 4569 would cost $1,000,000 over the 2015-2019 period.

Additional Info

Of Note: