SEC Executive Clawback Rules Bring Late Nights as Deadline Nears

Figuring out new SEC rules to recoup executive pay after a company makes accounting errors is, in a word, complicated. Complicated enough that it took one team of lawyers a five-hour call extending past midnight just to get to where it could explain the clawback regulations to clients.

The Securities and Exchange Commission rules—issued in 2022, more than a decade after major post-financial crisis reform compelled the agency to act—force companies to adopt clawback policies or risk expulsion from stock exchanges, which require compliance by Dec. 1. To come up with these policies, companies have to parse which types of ...