Public Companies

In the United States, public companies are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, and the rules and regulations of the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we assess the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually and the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures quarterly. In particular, beginning in 2015, Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, will require us to perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management to report on, and our independent registered public accounting firm potentially to attest to, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting.

Requirement Exceptions for Growth Public Companies in the United States

Note: the main entry for Emerging Growth Public Companies in the United States is avaliable here.

The “emerging growth companies” as defined in the JOBS Act, may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced financial disclosure obligations, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and any golden parachute payments not previously approved.

An “emerging growth company”, under the JOBS Act, are permitted to delay the adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. However, in case a growth company has elected not to take advantage of such extended transition period (and as a result, the growth company will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies), Section 107 of the JOBS Act provides that such decision to not take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards is irrevocable.

We may take advantage of these provisions until we are no longer an “emerging growth company”. We would cease to be an “emerging growth company” upon the earliest to occur of: the last day of the fiscal year in which we have more than $1.0 billion in annual revenue; the date we qualify as a “large accelerated filer,” with at least $700 million of equity securities held by non-affiliates; the issuance, in any three-year period, by us of more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities; and the last day of the fiscal year ending after the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering.