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Annual Disclosure Report
Governments or governmental entities issuing bonds generally have an obligation to meet specific continuing disclosure standards set forth in continuing disclosure agreements (CDAs, also called continuing disclosure certificates or undertakings). Issuers enter into CDAs at the time of bond issuance to enable their underwriters to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 15c2-12 (PDF). This rule, which is under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, sets forth certain obligations, such as the following:
- Underwriters are to receive, review and disseminate official statements prepared by issuers of most primary offerings of municipal securities.
- Underwriters are to obtain CDAs from issuers and other obligated persons to provide material event disclosures and annual financial information on a continuing basis.
- Broker-dealers have access to such continuing disclosure in order to make recommendations for municipal securities in the secondary market.
When bonds are issued, the issuer commits (via the CDA) to provide certain annual financial information and material event notices to the public. In accordance with SEC Rule 15c2-12, those filings must be made electronically at the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) portal.
The SEC's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) initiative in 2014, along with other recent federal regulatory actions, has highlighted the importance of maintaining a reliable system to adequately manage continuing disclosure.
Issuers may choose to provide periodic voluntary financial information to investors in addition to fulfilling the specific SEC Rule 15c2-12 responsibilities undertaken in their CDA. It is important to note that issuers should disseminate any financial information to the market as a whole and not give any one investor certain information that is not readily available to all investors. Issuers should also be aware that any information determined to be "communicating to the market" can be subject to regulatory scrutiny.