August/September 2022

Rural RISE NC Initiative Comes to Swain and Jackson Counties  

Secretary Marshall was honored to meet with small business owners in the western part of the state in August as she announced the addition of Swain and Jackson Counties to the Secretary of State’s Rural RISE (Resources for Innovators, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurs) NC Initiative. The Initiative connects new businesses with free and low-cost resources.       

Secretary Marshall held a Small Business Roundtable in Bryson City and did a Main Street tour of small businesses in Sylva to speak directly to people about the challenges small businesses are facing.

The Department has a variety of resources available for small businesses across North Carolina. While Rural RISE will be statewide, the core focus will be on the 78 counties across North Carolina that are considered rural.

Harnett County Small Business Startup Summit  

Secretary Marshall spoke in August at the Small Business Startup Summit hosted by Central Carolina Community College’s Small Business Center at the Harnett County Resource Center and Library in Lillington. Secretary of State staffers were on hand to help give summit attendees the ground level view of setting up shop and how the NC Secretary of State’s Office can help the small businesses that are the backbone of local economies get up and running quickly.

North Carolina is continuing to see a historic surge in new business creations - what many are calling a new era of homegrown entrepreneurship.

The Secretary of State's Business Registration Division processed 93,000 new business creations in the first half of this year, just shy of last year's record-breaking first and second quarter filings, marking an 80% over the new business creation filings in the first two quarters of 2020.

NC Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall flanked by members of her staff who participated in the day's program.

(L-R) Daniel Crabbe, Document Compliance Supervisor; Patty Williams, Information & Communications Specialist; NC Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall; and John Maron, Director of Investor Protection & Education Services.

Tips for Teachers: Investing for Retirement

Teachers have a number of choices to make when investing for retirement. The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin to help teachers make informed investment decisions, including about 403(b) and 457(b) plans -- tax-advantaged retirement savings programs often offered to teachers of public educational institutions. You can read the complete Bulletin here. More information for teachers is available in the SEC's Guide for Teachers: Saving and Investing for K-12 Educators.

Key Takeaways

• Do your homework on the investment products available to you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions — it is up to you to select investments that best meet your financial objectives. 
• Understand how much you will pay in fees and costs. Someone is making money from your investment. Ask about how much others may earn in fees or commissions — it could save you thousands of dollars for your retirement.
• Contact your employer to find out your options for investment professionals or vendors. Take advantage of resources that can assist you in researching those options. 

Read all the details here.

Three Things Every Small Business Owner Should Know

Cyber attacks can be devastating, and they’re increasingly common among small and mid-sized businesses. When a cyberattack occurs, it can leave your business picking up the pieces for months to come, and some companies never fully recover following a breach. 

In 2020 alone, there were around 790,000 instances of cybercrime in the United States, which is 300,000 more than the previous year. In total, these attacks cost losses of $4 million. With such a rapid increase in cybercrime and the increasing threat of attacks, you must take the relevant steps to prevent your business from being a target. The National Cybersecurity Alliance details everything you need to know.

SMALL TO MID-SIZED BUSINESSES ARE EASY TARGETS

You may think you don’t need to be concerned about the threat of cyberattacks on your small business, but the harsh reality is cyber attackers know small and medium-sized companies don’t take so much care when it comes to their cybersecurity. Therefore, they become easy targets. 

It’s reported that a whopping 43% of U.S. cyberattacks in 2018 targeted small businesses. This staggering statistic proves just how important cybersecurity is for even the smallest companies.

YOU NEED A PRE-PLANNED DISASTER RESPONSE

Once you truly understand the threat cyberattacks pose to your business, the first step to take is to plan a disaster response. Also known as a disaster recovery plan, this process enables companies to respond to cyber breaches as quickly as possible and redirect resources into restoring any lost data.

Here are the steps to take when developing an effective disaster response:

• Consider which stakeholders may be impacted.
• Conduct a business impact analysis to prioritize the most important systems.
• Perform a disaster recovery plan test run.
• Review the efficacy of the test run, and make improvements.
• Review the plan regularly to ensure procedures are still comprehensive and effective.

When you have an effective disaster response plan in place, benefits include:

• Minimal recovery time
• Improved security
• Reduction of damage caused by cyber threats

MONITORING YOUR SECURITY IS ESSENTIAL

The big problem with cyberattacks is that they seem to come completely out of the blue. While this may be the case for some attacks, prior to an attack, there are usually signs of hackers attempting to access your server. 

Using network monitoring software can help identify where hackers are focusing their efforts and prevent them from making a successful attack. However, remember that network monitoring software needs to be regularly updated as out-of-date software leaves you vulnerable to threats. 

PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS TODAY



When you’ve worked so hard to build your business, the thought of a cyberattack thwarting all your hard work is devastating. That’s why it’s so important to incorporate cybersecurity software into your business.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, the federal government's lead coordinating agency for critical infrastructure security and resilience, has prepared an Action Plan for Small Businesses. The Action Plan breaks the tasks down by role, starting with the CEO. It then details tasks for a Security Program Manager, and the Information Technology (IT) team. While following this advice is not a guarantee you will never have a security incident, it does lay the groundwork for building an effective security program. 

SEC Adopts Pay Versus Performance Disclosure Rules

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted amendments to its rules to require registrants to disclose information reflecting the relationship between executive compensation actually paid by a registrant and the registrant’s financial performance. The rules implement a requirement mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. The Commission proposed pay versus performance disclosure rules in 2015 and reopened the comment period on the proposal in January of this year.

“The Commission has long recognized the value to investors of information on executive compensation,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “This rule makes it easier for shareholders to assess a public company’s decision-making with respect to its executive compensation policies. I am pleased that the final rule provides for new, more flexible disclosures that allow companies to describe the performance measures it deems most important when determining what it pays executives. I think that this rule will help investors receive the consistent, comparable, and decision-useful information they need to evaluate executive compensation policies.”

Specifically, the amendments require registrants to provide a table disclosing specified executive compensation and financial performance measures for their five most recently completed fiscal years. With respect to the measures of performance, a registrant will be required to report its total shareholder return (TSR), the TSR of companies in the registrant's peer group, its net income, and a financial performance measure chosen by the registrant. Using the information presented in the table, registrants will be required to describe the relationships between the executive compensation actually paid and each of the performance measures, as well as the relationship between the registrant’s TSR and the TSR of its selected peer group. A registrant will also be required to provide a list of three to seven financial performance measures that it determines are its most important performance measures for linking executive compensation actually paid to company performance. Smaller reporting companies will be subject to scaled disclosure requirements under the rules.

NASAA Hosts State and Provincial Securities Regulators at the 2022 Fall Annual Meeting in Nashville

Securities regulators, financial industry leaders, and investor advocates across North America will convene in Nashville, Tennessee, September 18-20 for the North American Securities Administrators Association’s (NASAA) 2022 Fall Annual Meeting.

Themed “Strategies for Success in the Volunteer State,” the meeting recognizes the visionary and vital role that state and provincial securities regulators play in protecting investors from financial fraud and abuse and administering regulatory frameworks through which companies raise money. The meeting will include multiple speakers, panels and sessions that focus on regulatory issues related to emerging models for digital assets, the business landscape through the lens of minority and women entrepreneurs, and current issues facing capital formation for start-ups and small businesses. Another discussion centers on how the meme stock frenzy of January 2021 sparked unique issues for market regulation. The meeting will be held both in-person and with sessions available online.

The meeting will also offer attendees an opportunity to learn about the work underway at NASAA and its various Section Committees and project groups. The presentations will cover a broad array of specific topics from the regulation of investment advisers and broker-dealers to enforcement trends, investor education, and corporation finance initiatives. For more information, click here for meeting and registration details.