Meet EDGAR
Financially Fit readers, meet EDGAR. You should get very well acquainted with EDGAR, because EDGAR is here to make you money.
EDGAR is the acronym for electronic data gathering and retrieval. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires all entities that offer securities to the general public to make periodic filings to the SEC electronically – this is done through EDGAR. EDGAR can be accessed through the SEC site at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.
Specific company filings can be accessed by typing in a stock ticker or the company's name at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html. The site provides all company filings going back for a period of 10 years.
Key filings include:
Form 10-K: annual report every public firm files with the SEC within 75 days of the firm's year-end.
Form 10-Q: quarterly report every company files within 45 days of its quarter-end.
Form 20-F: annual and transition report of foreign issuers.
Form 8-K: disclosure of a non-recurring material event, such as a merger, acquisition, sale of a division, bankruptcy, executive resignation or litigation.
Form S-1, SB-1 and F-1: General Registration Statements -All companies issuing new shares to the public, whether through an initial public offering (IPO) or secondary offering must file disclosure statements with the SEC detailing the business and its prospects.
Form 4: Insider (management or directors) purchases or sales of shares within two business days of transaction.
Form 144: Intention to sell form that must be filed by anyone planning to sell restricted, unregistered securities.
Form 13D: Filed by any entity acquiring 5% or greater of a stock's outstanding shares with the intent of exerting influence or control.
Form 13G: Filed by any entity acquiring 5% or greater of outstanding shares with no intent to exert influence or control.
Form 13F: Filed by all money managers and investment advisers with at least $100 million under management.
Form DEF 14A: Proxy Statement, Notification of Shareholder Meeting filed for the annual meeting.
As investors we should take advantage of all available information in order to ensure that our investment decisions are as informed as they can possibly be. While we have provided you a brief on several of the key filings, the SEC has set up an EDGAR tutorial and detailed form descriptions on the EDGAR home page. With the Internet, and through EDGAR, the SEC has leveled the playing field to where we individual investors have available to us, at the same time as the big wigs, the information that drives price movement.
About the Author
Nancy Zambell, Contributing Editor to BrokerAdviser.com's Financially Fit, has enjoyed a diversified career in the financial services industry.
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