At SEC, A Fresh IDEA Replaces EDGAR
September 1, 2008
The Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled a new database that will give investors faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds.
The new system is called IDEA—Interactive Data Electronic Applications. It replaces the EDGAR database developed during the 1980s. The change allows the SEC to “transition from collecting forms and documents to making the information itself freely available to investors to give them better and more up-to-date financial disclosure in a form they can readily use.”
IDEA will allow investors to collate information from thousands of companies and forms to create reports and analysis “on the fly.” The EDGAR database made obtaining SEC filings an arduous task for investors who had to sift through one form at a time.
“IDEA will ensure that the SEC continues to stay ahead of the needs of investors,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. “This new SEC resource powered by interactive data will give investors far faster, more accurate, and more meaningful information about the companies and mutual funds they own.”
The SEC has formally proposed a requirement that U.S. companies provide financial information using interactive data beginning as early as next year, and that mutual funds submit their public filings in the same manner.
For more information on related topics, visit the following:
