EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) is an internal database system operated by the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

(SEC) that performs automated collection, validation, indexing, and accepted forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the SEC. The database contains a wealth of information about the commission and the securities industry which is freely available to the public via the Internet. In September 2017, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton revealed the database had been hacked and that companies' data may have been used by criminals for insider trading.

History

Development began in 1993, and companies were phased in to EDGAR filing over a three-year period, ending 6 May 1996.Important Information About EDGAR
Retrieved January 10, 2017.

Filings

Not all

SEC filing The SEC filing is a financial statement or other formal document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Public companies, certain insiders, and broker-dealers are required to make regular SEC filings. Investors and fina ...

s by

public companies A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

are available on EDGAR. As of that date, all public domestic companies were required to submit their filings via EDGAR, except for hardcopy paper filings, which were allowed under a hardship exemption. Third-party filings with respect to these companies, such as

tender offer In corporate finance, a tender offer is a type of public takeover bid. The tender offer is a public, open offer or invitation (usually announced in a newspaper advertisement) by a prospective acquirer to all stockholders of a publicly traded corp ...

s and

Schedule 13D Schedule 13D is an SEC filing that must be submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission within 10 days by anyone who acquires beneficial ownership of more than 5% of any class of publicly traded securities in a public company. A filer mu ...

filings, are also filed via EDGAR. The vast majority of documents are now filed electronically, with over 3,000 filings per day. On November4, 2002, the SEC required all foreign companies and foreign governments to file their documents via EDGAR. Prior to that time, electronic filing by foreign companies also was voluntary. Actual

annual report An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance. ...

s to shareholders (except in the case of

mutual fund A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase Security (finance), securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in ...

companies) need not be submitted on EDGAR, although some companies do so voluntarily. However, the annual report on

Form 10-K A Form 10-K is an annual report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that gives a comprehensive summary of a company's financial performance. Although similarly named, the annual report on Form 10-K is distinct from the ...

is required to be filed on EDGAR. As of May25, 2025, there were over 17 million filings to EDGAR.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Internet properties established in 1996 1996 establishments in the United States

EDGAR Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Midd ...

Government databases in the United States

History

Filings

See also

Other countries' equivalents to EDGAR

References

External links