On September 20th, the SEC indicated that a cybersecurity breach that occurred in 2016 may have provided the basis through which cyber threat actors achieved illicit gains. Accordingly, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton issued a statement detailing the importance of cybersecurity to the agency and market participants. The statement also reviews the SEC’s approach to cybersecurity in an effort to mitigate the risk of further incidents.
Continue reading "SEC Indicates EDGAR System Was Hacked in 2016..." »Thursday, September 21. 2017
SEC Indicates EDGAR System Was Hacked in 2016 and Releases Statement on Cybersecurity
Friday, September 15. 2017
LDC #52: How to Make Your Script Secure
Legato is a tool that allows you as a developer to do almost anything you want: change registry keys, move files around, and create or delete application setting files. Because there’s a great deal of power behind Legato, sometimes we want our scripts to be run by only certain people, perhaps, for example, only by company IT members. How do we make it so that a script can be deployed globally in a company but yet make it so that only some people can run it? The answer lies in using the power of Legato to secure our scripts.
Continue reading "LDC #52: How to Make Your Script Secure" »Wednesday, September 13. 2017
SunSpec Alliance and XBRL US Announce Public Review of Orange Button Solar Data Standards
On September 12th, 2017, SunSpec Alliance and XBRL US announced the launch of a 30-day public review period on the initial draft of the Orange Button taxonomy for solar financing.
Continue reading "SunSpec Alliance and XBRL US Announce Public..." »Monday, September 11. 2017
SEC Releases EDGAR 17.3
On September 11, 2017, EDGAR 17.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release introduces a pilot phase for the N-PORT and N-CEN EDGAR forms. Additionally, a number of forms were adjusted to allow co-registrants to designate whether they are an Emerging Growth Company.
Continue reading "SEC Releases EDGAR 17.3" »Friday, September 08. 2017
LDC #51: Streamlining Document Creation with Templates
HTML is the primary document type submitted to the SEC now. Every filing needs to have a primary document, and that primary document is almost always an HTML file. Because EDGAR HTML is a very specific type of HTML, you need special tools to create and convert these documents. Software packages like GoFiler exist to make this process as easy as possible, but in the end it still involves some level of user interaction to convert the document from a source file, make sure it converted alright, fix any issues, proof it, and either submit it or send it back to the client. Well, using Legato, we can cut a few steps out of that by making an HTML template that’s filled in with data populated from a data file!
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Wednesday, September 06. 2017
SEC Names New Directors for the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis and the Division of Investment Management
On August 31, 2017, the SEC named Jeffrey Harris as Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA). The Commission also named Dalia Blass as Director of the Division of Investment Management.
Continue reading "SEC Names New Directors for the Division of..." »Tuesday, September 05. 2017
SEC Releases First Fee Rate Advisory for 2018 Fiscal Year
On August 24, 2017, the SEC announced a fee rate of $124.50 per million dollars for the 2018 fiscal year. This is the fee public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities with the Commission.
Continue reading "SEC Releases First Fee Rate Advisory for 2018..." »Friday, September 01. 2017
LDC #50: Making Linking Exhibits Even Easier
New rules go into effect next month requiring that filers insert hyperlinks into their exhibit indices to link directly to referenced filings and exhibits. For a small filing, maybe this isn’t too arduous a task to do by hand. But for a large one? The process can be a real pain, particularly if you don’t know the links of the exact exhibits that need to be included. GoFiler has now included a tool (written entirely in Legato by our development staff!) to help users locate and automatically include exhibits. It’s pretty powerful, allowing the user to build a local cache of filings from the EDGAR system based on a particular CIK. This cache can be searched and sorted, so it becomes much easier to find the filing you need to link.
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Wednesday, August 30. 2017
Cross-referencing and Linking Exhibits Using GoFiler
Starting as early as next month, accelerated filers will need to comply with new hyperlinking rules adopted by the SEC earlier this year. These form amendments now require companies who file registration statements or reports subject to the exhibit requirements under Item 601 of Regulation S-K or who file Forms F-10 or F-20 to include a hyperlink to each exhibit listed in the filing’s exhibit index. This is intended to make it simpler for investors and other interested parties to locate the exhibits included or referenced in a filing.
Continue reading "Cross-referencing and Linking Exhibits Using..." »Friday, August 25. 2017
LDC #49: Making Scripts Stand Out With Image Icons
When you start adding multiple Legato scripts to the same menu in GoFiler, the menu can become quite crowded. Repeating the same logo, the default “LS” for a Legato script, doesn’t help at all. To combat this problem, GoFiler 4.19a introduced a new way of defining custom logos for Legato scripts. Using this feature can make individual scripts stand out and help the user identify them more easily. Custom icons can also add a professional veneer and polish to your script, which is always nice to do particularly if the script is being deployed to multiple users on a permanent basis.
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Wednesday, August 23. 2017
EDGAR 17.3 To Implement N-CEN and N-PORT For Testing
The SEC recently released draft technical specifications for two new forms: Form N-CEN and Form N-PORT. With the upcoming release of EDGAR 17.3 (scheduled to be released September 11), these new forms will be implemented for testing.
Continue reading "EDGAR 17.3 To Implement N-CEN and N-PORT For..." »Monday, August 21. 2017
SEC Issues Updates to Interpretive Guidance on Revenue Recognition
The SEC has issued two releases regarding revenue recognition with an additional Staff Accounting Bulletin released by the SEC staff to update interpretive guidance regarding revenue recognition.
Continue reading "SEC Issues Updates to Interpretive Guidance on..." »Friday, August 18. 2017
LDC #48: Improved Align Outline Text Function
This week we’re revisiting the Align Outline Text script from LDC #41, to show how an existing script can be expanded upon to add new functionality. The original version of this script made a set of assumptions, which means it works really well for our sample test file, but there are many other cases where these assumptions are false, and the script doesn’t do anything to fix our problem. The original purpose was to examine paragraphs, try to identify the lead-in text (the “(a)”, or “1.”, or “Section 1.”, etc), and wrap it with a <FONT> tag with properties to cause it to render with a fixed width instead of relying on non-breaking spaces to make it appear spaced. Instead of looking for a very specific type of spacer, like the last script did, we can use the Word Parser in Legato to step through the lead-in word by word, examining each one, to determine how many characters appear before the first set of non-breaking spaces. This is a lot more flexible, and lets our script react better to unforseen types styles of paragraphs.
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Thursday, August 17. 2017
XBRL US Offers Second IFRS Taxonomy Deep Dive Webinar
XBRL US will be offering a second IFRS Taxonomy Deep Dive Webinar on August 23rd at 3:00 PM EST. This webinar will cover the IFRS Taxonomy and SEC rules requiring foreign private issuers to file their financials in XBRL format.
Continue reading "XBRL US Offers Second IFRS Taxonomy Deep Dive..." »Friday, August 11. 2017
LDC #47: Using Legato To Alphabetize a List
Everyone knows how to put things in alphabetical order; it’s one of the first things we learn in grade school. Well, just because it’s easy doesn’t mean we want to do it ourselves sometimes! 13-F’s Information Table, for example, would be pretty time-consuming to have to alphabetize manually. Using the SortTable function, we can sort any table quickly and easily. While there’s no SEC requirement to do so, it makes it a lot easier for readers to view if the information table is alphabetized by Issuer Name. Legato provides powerful tools to make this mundane task simple and automatic.
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