On the heels of congressional criticism that the Securities and Exchange Commission isn’t being friendly enough to small businesses, the regulator has proposed rule changes that would let an estimated 1,500 more companies take advantage of lighter disclosure rules first created for the smallest public companies.

The SEC published the proposed changes to its disclosure rules last week along with another proposal that would exempt private companies from registering their compensatory employee stock options with the commission. The SEC is collecting public comments on both proposals through mid-September.   READ MORE