On February 19th, the SEC proposed an expansion of the popular modernization reform that permits investor opinions about potential offerings to be taken into account at an earlier stage in the public offering process than is the case today. The new rule and related changes would expand the “test-the-waters” accommodation, which is currently only available to emerging growth companies (EGCs). The expansion would permit all prospective issuers to gauge market interest in a possible initial public offering or other proposed registered securities offering by discussing the offering with potential investors prior to the filing of the offering’s registration statement.
Continue reading "SEC Proposes to Expand..." »If you have ever wanted to format data from a database into a web format then you have experienced the added difficulty of working with HTML. For this week’s blog we are going to be taking a look at Legato’s HTML Writer object. This object allows us to create HTML coding with very little knowledge of HTML but allows us access to some advanced features of HTML like CSS. In order to show the HTML Writer object, we will convert a CSV file to HTML but the data source could easily be adapted to any file format or database.
Continue reading "LDC #124: Converting CSV to HTML using Legato" »Version 4.25d of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release contains a number of improvements to Form N-CEN View, general EDGAR forms, the Export XBRL to Excel function and to XDX and iXBRL. Additionally, improvements were made to the Virtual File Cloud browser feature, which can now be enabled via the application preferences.
Continue reading "New Release (4.25d) for the GoFiler Family of..." »Many times we developers download tools and updates to specifications in zip files. Figuring out which files have changed between versions can be a pain. For this blog, we are going to create a simple script to help compare the contents of two different zip files. Instead of having to check all the files, you can run this script and have it print a list of the files that need to be reviewed.
Continue reading "LDC #123: Comparing Two Zip Files" »On February 14th, the SEC extended the comment period on proposed rulemaking concerning variable annuities and variable life insurance contracts. These proposed rules and form changes, which were originally published in the Federal Register on November 30, 2018, help investors make informed investment decisions regarding these contracts. The SEC has received numerous requests for additional time from the public and believes such time will allow the public to thoroughly consider the proposals and provide useful feedback that can guide the SEC in its decision process.
Continue reading "SEC Extends Comment Period for Updated..." »To aid filers avoid missing deadlines and reduce congestion around busy important filing dates, the SEC provides an anticipated peak filing schedule. Peak EDGAR filing times are estimated using historical data. The 2019 schedule is now available from the SEC.
Continue reading "SEC's Peak Filing Schedule for 2019" »A few weeks ago we started building a Section 16 Data Scraper with the intention of a user being able to enter a CIK and Legato downloading all of the CIK’s Section 16 filings, putting the data together into a spreadsheet, and then being able to start a Section 16 filing by using that data as an entry point. At the end of the last post we had a script that would go out and download all of a singular CIK’s filings. It would also cache any filings it saw so that we were only downloading each individual filing once. This week we are going to continue onward and code a system to scrape useful data out of the filings and put it together into a CSV file.
Continue reading "LDC #122: Building a Section 16 Data Scraper,..." »In our recent blog series discussing Bulk Filings, we used a couple of functions to open and save files, EDACOpenFile and EDACSaveFile. EDAC, or the EDGAR Data Access Class, is a method to interact with EDGAR submission files (as defined by the SEC’s EDGAR Form XML specifications) using Legato. We used EDAC functions to open the submission files and to save them, but EDAC is much more powerful than that. In fact, using the EDAC functions to open and save files is like using a chainsaw to trim a finger nail.
Continue reading "LDC #121: An Introduction to the EDGAR Data..." »Version 4.25c of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release contains a number of improvements to Form N-CEN View, Form SDR View and Form ABS-EE View. Additionally, improvements and corrections were made to Page View and to general file recovery across all software platforms.
Continue reading "New Release (4.25c) for the GoFiler Family of..." »On Friday, President Trump signed a bill to reopen the federal government for three weeks until February 15. As of Monday, January 28, the SEC is currently open and fully staffed with a return to normal operations. During the transition to normal operations, staff response times may be longer than ordinary. Certain SEC Divisions and Offices, including our Divisions of Corporation Finance, Trading and Markets, Investment Management and the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, will be publishing statements regarding their transition plans at www.sec.gov in the upcoming days.
Continue reading "SEC Resumes Normal Operation" »Scripts can share a data pool that transcends the life of a script and can therefore be shared by multiple other scripts. There are other methods of storing what we usually call “meta” data, but session data is specifically designed to allow scripts to communicate and share information over time and threads. In this blog, we will explore session data and, as a side discussion, atomic operations.
Continue reading "LDC #120: Quickly Sharing and Managing Data..." »Last week, Dave added to our Bulk Filing script, giving it the ability to add folders and to detect if it’s going over the maximum allowable size from the SEC. This week, we’re going to do our final update on this script and develop its ability to actually file to the SEC. As part of this, we’re going to read back the SEC’s response, determine if it’s an error or a success, and if it’s a success we’ll parse the accession notices out and create an output file that maps the accession number to the original file. This will be very handy in case one of the filings comes back suspended, so you can just look up the accession number of the file to see which one failed.
The SEC will be closed Monday, January 21 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The EDGAR System will not receive, process or accept filings on this day. Filings with a due date of January 21 will be due the following business day.
Continue reading "SEC Closed Monday, January 21" »On January 15th, the SEC announced charges against nine defendants for participation in a previously disclosed scheme to hack into the EDGAR system for the purposes of illegal trading. Included in the defendants were a Ukranian hacker and six individual traders in California, Ukraine, and Russia. There were also two entities charged. The hacker and some of the traders were involved in a similar scheme to hack into newswire services to trade on information not yet publicly available. As a result of those activities, the hacker and his conspirators were charged in 2015.
Continue reading "SEC Brings Charges in EDGAR Hacking Case" »Company
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