Understand the journey before you begin it.

Key Concepts

A short glossary of the journey

• EDGAR — the SEC's electronic filing system, where offering statements, registration statements, and periodic reports are submitted and publicly available.
• Form 1-A — the offering statement filed for a Regulation A+ offering, containing the offering circular reviewed by the SEC before qualification.
• Form F-1 — the registration statement used by foreign private issuers for a fully registered U.S. offering.
• PCAOB — the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; audits by PCAOB-registered firms are the standard for U.S. public-market financial statements.
• Transfer agent — the registered entity that maintains the official record of a company's shareholders.
• Market maker & Form 211 — a FINRA-member broker-dealer that initiates public quotation of a security on OTC markets.
• OTCQB / OTCQX — the venture and best-market tiers of OTC Markets, where many international issuers first trade publicly in the U.S.
• Testing the waters — permitted pre-qualification communications gauging investor interest in a Regulation A+ offering.
• Restricted securities — shares from exempt offerings subject to holding periods (commonly under Rule 144) before public resale.
• Uplisting — moving from OTC quotation to a national exchange such as NYSE or Nasdaq upon meeting listing standards.

All Knowledge Centre content is general education, not legal, accounting, tax, or investment advice, and not an offer or solicitation. Rules change; decisions should be made with qualified professional advisers.