Small Public Company Forum

The Small Public Company Forum – Inaugural Event, held at the Maslon Law Firm on June 24, 2009, was a tremendous success. We had an outstanding turnout for the seminar and would like to extend our thanks to those that were able to join us. For your reference, the event podcasts and materials are provided below.

As noted in the seminar, below we have provided a means for you to submit questions, and provide comments and feedback, by clicking on the “Comments” link  in the upper right corner of this post or in the gray box following the post. We encourage you to do so and hope to hear from you! 

Small Public Company Forum – Inaugural Event

Introduction by Paul Chestovich
Podcast

Session One: Financing Your Business in This Economy
Podcast  |  Materials

Moderator: Alan Gilbert, Partner in Maslon’s Business & Securities Group

Panelists:
Joe Sullivan, Senior Corporate Finance Executive and Director of Equity Capital Markets for Feltl and Company;
Rachel Polson, Partner with the Commercial Services Group of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP;
Bill Mower, Partner in Maslon’s Business & Securities Group

Specific topics covered:

• The types of financing transactions that have generated interest and success in this economy
• Creative financing strategies
• The ways that companies can take steps now to better position themselves to obtain financing in the future
• Avoiding certain transactions and traps

Session Two: Underwaterworld: Dealing with Out-of-the-Money Stock Options
Podcast  |  Materials

This informative presentation by Martin Rosenbaum of Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, LLP offered practical advice on ways to deal with executive, employee and director stock options that have fallen out-of-the-money during the recent market downturn.

Specific topics covered:

• Does an option repricing or option exchange offer the right answer?
• Steps required in an option exchange offer and possible pitfalls
• Alternatives to repricings or option exchange offers
• Corporate governance considerations for the Board and Compensation Committee-how to avoid liability

Session Three: 404 Error—File Not Found: Practical Advice on Sarbanes-Oxley 404 Compliance
Podcast  |  Materials Moderator:
Paul Chestovich, Partner in Maslon’s Business & Securities Group

Panelists:
Mark Leitner, Partner with Carver Moquist & O’Connor, LLC;
Kaye O’Leary, Founding Partner of Tevera Consulting, LLC and former CFO at Caribou Coffee, Buca and OneLink, Inc.;
Abigail Grenfell, Principal of Internal Control & Anti-Fraud Experts, LLC

Specific topics covered:

• What are the most common problem areas in undertaking the 404 compliance process?
• What do you need to know about the “control framework”?
• How are costs expected to increase and processes expected to change, with the addition of the auditor attestation report for smaller reporting companies?
• What steps can you take to streamline the report and attestation process and avoid poor disclosure results
• What should you do if your evaluation uncovers potential bad acts or fraud?