Search This Blog

Friday, July 3, 2009

EDGAR

The U.S. SEC online databse of filings, EDGAR, is a treasure trove for translators. I picked up this tip from Ken Adams (not a relative) and use it all the time. Searching EDGAR is different from using Google to comb the SEC site because it lets you search for terms and phrases in actual forms filed by companies, not just in SEC publications and instructions.

Keep in mind that EDGAR is a conceptual search engine. That means that when you type in a key word, it will show you results that, while related, do not necessarily contain the actual search term. So EDGAR is a good place to do some real reading, but you can't do a quick "Google poll" to choose between two possible translations for a term.

If you want to search all historical filings, EDGAR limits you to searching for key words in the filings' header information. If you choose to do a full text search, you are limited to the last four years.

Have fun!

No comments:

Post a Comment