Science,
Industry and Business Library
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Locating Financial Information
Getting Information from the
Company Itself
Getting Information from the SEC
Interpreting Financial Information
Assessment
Getting information from the SEC
As we mentioned in section 1 of this module, a major factor that
will determine where you'll find information about a company is
whether that company is public or private. In this section, we'll
be looking at information primarily derived from public companies.
What is the SEC?
SEC
is the acronym for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC is a governmental body that was established by Congress
in 1934 "to enforce [...] securities laws, to promote stability
in the markets and, most importantly, to protect investors." (From
the SEC mission statement.)
What does the SEC do?
The SEC's primary function is the gathering and dissemination of
important financial information about public companies. It also
oversees activity in the securities industry at large, monitoring
such things as corporate takeovers,
the stock
exchange, investment brokers and advisors, and public utility companies,
as well as investigating infractions like insider trading and fraud.
What kind of information is disclosed to the SEC?
Companies file information about their financial status and about
their business practices with the SEC. The documents that must be
filed include annual and quarterly financial reports and details
of any mergers
and acquisitions in which a company is involved. Companies are required
to file all pertinent information with the SEC, whether positive
or negative.
How does the SEC gather and disseminate this info?
Most companies file almost all of the required information with
the SEC electronically, through the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis
and Retrieval system, or EDGAR.
Use of EDGAR was phased in during the 1990s, and it is now the SEC's
primary means of gathering and distributing information. It is obviously
an extremely efficient means of dealing with large amounts of detailed
information. Most company's documents are now filed using EDGAR.
A notable example of a document that companies are NOT required
to file on EDGAR -- though some may choose to do so -- is a shareholder's
annual report. The raw data that goes into the report (and sometimes
data that is not included in a report) is filed on EDGAR, though,
in the form of a 10-K form.
You should also note that some smaller companies may be allowed
to submit and file their documents on paper, rather than electronically,
and may be required to file fewer forms.
How do I use EDGAR?
You can access EDGAR on the Internet, through the SEC website. (You'll
find links for this in the Resources section of this course.)
Once on the site, you can enter various search terms to locate information.
You can, for example, conduct simple searches by types of forms
filed and for particular dates as well as special-purpose searches.
You will need to consult the EDGAR tutorial on the SEC website for
further information.
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