WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 8, 2020) – The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) today announced the availability of a new publication designed to improve the quality of franchise disclosures.

The 366-page Franchise Disclosure Document Handbook: A Resource Guide for Preparing a Franchise Disclosure Document is a compilation of the various rules, commentaries, and guidance from the Federal Trade Commission and NASAA governing the preparation of Franchise Disclosure Documents. These disclosure documents are presented to prospective buyers of franchises as part of the purchasing process.

“Prospective franchisees may invest their life savings and hopes for the future in the business venture described in a Franchise Disclosure Document. It is critically important, therefore, that Franchise Disclosure Documents perform the functions that they are intended to perform,” said Dale Cantone, Chair of NASAA’s Franchise and Business Opportunities Project Group and Maryland Deputy Securities Commissioner.

The handbook contains an item-by-item review of the required contents of the Franchise Disclosure Document and NASAA’s registration and filing requirements, with relevant item-by-item interpretations and guidance. In preparing any Franchise Disclosure Document, drafters should review all applicable laws, rules, regulations, and guidelines, and all available interpretive guides, including those in this book.

“We hope that the Franchise Disclosure Handbook is useful to the franchise community and that it assists in the effort to provide each prospective franchisee with important information about one of the most important investment decisions most of them will ever make,” Cantone said.

The NASAA Franchise Disclosure Document Handbook is available for purchase through Amazon for $24.99 (paperback) and $4.99 (Kindle e-book).

NASAA is the membership organization of state and provincial securities regulators in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the United States, 21 state securities agencies have been given statutory authority to regulate franchises and business opportunities by their legislatures. In some states, they are regulated by the attorney general’s office, office of consumer affairs, or other departments.