OSC announces new SME Institute webinars
OSC
January 16, 2023

For Immediate Release OSC

TORONTO - The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today announced a new lineup of free webinars for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The webinars are offered through the ‘OSC SME Institute’ which helps small businesses understand and navigate the requirements of being or becoming a public company in Ontario.

The new webinars provide an opportunity for issuers and their advisors to hear directly from staff with guidance to assist them in meeting their continuous disclosure reporting obligations and on various prospectus initiatives designed to reduce regulatory burden for reporting issuers. Participants will also have an opportunity to interact with staff during the Question & Answer portion of the webinar.

Key topics covered in the webinars will include:

  • Non-GAAP and other financial measures disclosure
  • Overly promotional disclosure (including greenwashing)
  • Forward-looking information disclosure expectations
  • Financial reporting and disclosure expectations during economic uncertainty
  • Management Discussion and Analysis and prospectus filing common deficiencies
  • A refresher on prospectus exemptions including new temporary exemptions.

For full details on the webinars and to register, visit the SME Institute calendar on the OSC website. For questions related to course content and registration, please contact [email protected].

Established in 2012, the program informs small and medium businesses about how to avoid common deficiencies, understand their regulatory obligations and gives them the opportunity to hear first-hand from OSC Staff on the latest regulatory issues that have an impact on their markets.

Archived replays of the webinars will also be available on the OSC’s website and YouTube channel. Previous archived webinars include mining disclosure essentials; financing options for SMEs; Report of Exempt Distribution filing essentials and navigating insider reporting and the System for Electronic Disclosure by Insiders (SEDI).

The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices, to foster fair, efficient and competitive capital markets and confidence in the capital markets, to foster capital formation, and to contribute to the stability of the financial system and the reduction of systemic risk. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at http://www.osc.ca.

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