To sell securities in Ontario, your clients need to file a prospectus with the Ontario Securities Commission. Once the OSC approves the prospectus, your clients get a receipt, and they can start selling. Want to reduce the wait time? You just need to file the prospectus in the morning.

As of 2018, if you have the prospectus for an initial public offering, you can get a same-day receipt if you file by noon. Note this only applies to the final prospectus. Typically, you file a preliminary prospectus, the OSC makes comments, and you resolve those issues in your final prospectus.

If you want to avoid those stumbling blocks, you may want to work with a consultant who understands the process inside and out. Often, a consultant can draft a prospectus that’s likely to meet the standards the first time around.

With a prospectus related to a bought deal, you can also get a same-day receipt as long as the paperwork is in before 12:00 p.m. If you have a short form prospectus, you have a 3:00 p.m. deadline, but you should notify the OSC by email before noon. That just puts the task on its radar and helps to ensure it issues the receipt the same day. In both cases, if you miss the deadline, the receipt should be issued by noon the next business day.

Although the phrase may be overused, "time is money" in the business world. If your clients are trying to land investors, they may need these receipts to back up their pitches, and ideally, they need the receipts as soon as possible so they don’t miss opportunities. Keep these deadlines in mind so you can help your clients handle this process in a timely fashion.