SEC’s Epic Post-Shutdown Filing Backlog Risks Stalling US IPOs

Rank-and-file US Securities and Exchange Commission workers have returned to face the paperwork that piled up during the longest government shutdown in US history, and supervisors say the order of the day is “triage.”

Deal first with the tasks still lingering on pre-shutdown to-do lists, according to an email sent to staffers reviewed by Bloomberg News. Only then should they move on to the avalanche of filings that came in while 90% of the agency’s workforce was furloughed.

SEC staffers were told to focus on so-called registration statements, which companies file when they want to raise money such as in ...