reporting company

USA

reporting company, Also known as reporting issuer and public company.

See also US reporting issuer (UK).

A company subject to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act is an SEC reporting company. A company becomes subject to the Exchange Act under the following circumstances:

• Securities exchange listing. Before a company's securities can begin to trade on the exchange, the company must register that class of securities (debt or equity) with the SEC under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. Typically, when a company goes public, it also lists its securities for trading on a "national securities exchange" (as defined by the SEC) such as the NYSE or NASDAQ. In order to gain a secondary listing on a US securities exchange, non-US issuers who are already public can also list their outstanding or any issuance of new securities on a US securities exchange and register those securities under the Exchange Act.

• Size thresholds. Companies with total assets greater than $10 million and more than 500 holders of their equity securities must register those securities with the SEC under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act.

• Public offering/no securities exchange listing. Companies that have issued to the public equity or debt securities not listed on any exchange become subject to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.

By registering securities under Section 12(b) or Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act, a company becomes subject to the periodic and current reporting requirements of Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

In addition, Section 15(d) companies must file certain periodic reports and information required by Section 13 of the Exchange Act as if they had registered securities under Section 12. The SEC has divided all issuers into four categories for purposes of public securities offerings. The four categories of issuers are:

• non-reporting issuers.

• unseasoned issuers.

• seasoned issuers.

• WKSIs.

Unseasoned issuers, seasoned issuers and WKSIs are all collectively known as reporting issuers.