Washington – Now investors can name their poison – and find it – on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s corporate filings system by using a new search tool that flips through all 15 million pages.
All seven of the Deadly Sins, for example, are there: pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony and lust.
Michael Willis, portfolio manager for Giant 5 Funds, a group of mutual funds based in Colorado Springs, offers this lesson he has learned in a prospectus filed Nov. 14: “Fear and greed are two primary emotions that must be mastered before the secrets of Wall Street can be unlocked.”
A search for “greed” turned up 722 other mentions in the SEC’s Edgar online reporting system.
“Thank goodness you can also find the seven heavenly virtues,” said SEC spokesman John Nester.
That’s right: the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, as well as the cardinal virtues of fortitude, justice, temperance and prudence.
The SEC announced last week the new full-text search tool is on its website for searching the information that companies and mutual funds are required to disclose.
The search tool allows users to enter a keyword or other search query and retrieve a list of related SEC filings, going back four years, on the Edgar system. The tool allows searches of SEC filings by type of filing, such as stock registration statement, annual or quarterly financial report, etc.; by company name; by industry code; or by a specific time period.
The agency in September awarded four contracts worth a total $54 million for its program meant to make the data in periodic financial reports easier for the public to find and understand.
More online: Try out the
SEC’s search tool. searchwww.sec.gov/EDGARFSClient/
