The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Thursday the availability of open data enhancements that provide public access to financial statements and other disclosures made by publicly-traded companies on its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system known as EDGAR.
According to the press release, the SEC deployed an Application Programming Interface (APIs) that acts as a financial statement data aggregator, “making corporate disclosures quicker and easier for developers and third-party services to use.” Moreover, it added: “APIs will allow developers to create web or mobile apps that directly serve retail investors.” That said, the APIs, which are free, grant access to EDGAR submission history and eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) data.
“These new APIs make important information about public companies more accessible and usable than ever before. This marks another important milestone in the SEC’s continuing efforts to facilitate innovation and make financial disclosure data accessible to all market participants,” Jed Hickman, Director, EDGAR Business Office, commented on the system. Prior to the launch, the SEC made APIs available through beta testing to gather feedback.
Also, the authority specified that it updates APIs in real-time during the day as EDGAR submissions are made public.
Recent US SEC Appointments
In June, the SEC named Renee Jones and John Coates as Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and the SEC’s General Counsel. Both appointments were effective from June 21, 2021. Coates has been serving as the Division’s Acting Director since February 2021. Prior to his career at the US SEC, the General Counsel was the John F. Cogan Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard University, where he was Vice Dean for Finance and Strategic Initiatives.
On the other hand, Jones came from a recent academic experience where she worked as Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Boston College Law School. She was in charge of teaching several courses related to Regulation in the financial sphere.
