DELAWARE GEORGIA NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA WASHINGTON, DC SEC AMENDS EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION DISCLOSURE RULES FOR STOCK-BASED AWARDS January 3, 2007 In late December 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had amended its new executive compensation and director disclosure rules to more closely conform the disclosure of stock and 1option awards to applicable accounting standards for financial statement reporting. The amendments (the "Amendments") are intended to provide investors with a better view of the compensation earned by an executive officer or director during a particular reporting period (i.e., the requisite service period, as opposed to the full grant date fair value), and thus to be more aligned with the disclosure required for other forms of compensation in the Summary Compensation Table and the principles underlying financial statement disclosures. The Amendments, which were adopted in the form of interim final rules, are effective for the upcoming 2007 proxy season, so public companies should immediately begin considering their effect on required disclosures. In July 2006, the SEC adopted enhanced executive and director compensation, corporate governance and related person transaction disclosure requirements for proxy statements, registration statements and annual 2reports filed by public companies (the "July 2006 Rules"). Under the July 2006 Rules, a dollar value for all equity ...