SEC Filing Services

SEC Filings: What you need to know before contacting an agent

When you are in charge of the EDGAR filings for your public company, you know that you have to be accurate, time effective, and very thorough. It is a real challenge to do all of this on your own, and that is why most public companies turn to agents to do their EDGAR filing.

Before you begin your filing for the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, you need to have all of your financial documentation prepared. Your agent can help you determine which reports and information you need to include, and will help you prepare those filings for submission to the SEC.

Learning Securities filing on your own or sending someone to be trained on it is more costly in terms of time and money spent in most cases than it would be to simply hire an experienced agent to do the filing for you, therefore many companies work with outside tax preparers. This way you can save the time, money, and headaches of trying to file without assistance as well as the potential costs to you if you make a mistake in your filings and are charged a fine.

An experienced filing agent - and experience really is the key, here - can help you get you paperwork together and can translate it into the proper format for  EDGAR filings very quickly, helping you to get your filing done on time and at a fraction of the cost that it would take to train someone within the company to do it instead. Turnaround varies by company, but some agents will be able to convert your documents for filing within a single business day, and some are willing to work hard to get you documents that you urgently need that same day.


Costs for filings can also vary, so before you make contact with an agent make sure that you have an idea of what their company charges for their services and what the competition charges as well. This will help you get a better idea of which service is going to offer you the best value, and if you go with a more expensive service then you can know to expect a bit of extra effort for your money. If you aren't satisfied with your current EDGAR filing agent, then take a look around for an agent who will better meet your needs and still get your paperwork filed quickly, accurately, and for the right price.


This article is originally published here: SEC Filing Services.

Edgar Agent

What is an EDGAR agent? EDGAR is the Electronic Data-Gathering Analysis, and Retrieval System. This system is designed to handle the Securities and Exchange Forms that publicly held companies are required to file. What used to be done manually is now able to be done automatically online. Your  Edgar agent collects, validates, indexes, accepts, and forwards appropriate forms that your company is required to submit.

EDGAR filings is a great boon for investors and companies. In the age of instant online access to nearly everything, companies did not want to wait for audit reports that took a long time for accountants to generate. With online agents, the reports are collected, synthesized, and accessible to companies and investors alike. Investors can quickly and easily view financial information of companies in which they are considering investing.

Companies are required to file these forms with the EDGAR database. Like many financial forms, these are long and complicated. Often companies don't want to spend time on them when they have to run their businesses. The solution that companies find is to have a service prepare and file the appropriate forms for them. Such services offer companies quarterly and annual filings of a variety of forms, as well as quarterly, semiannual, and annual filings for mutual funds. In addition, they will handle Quarterly Institutional Investment Managers filings. Filing agents also "EDGARize," or convert documents into the acceptable SEC filing format.

Putting everything in the correct format, meeting the deadline requirements, having all the pertinent data, and knowing which fees are applicable is an overwhelming job when added to the myriad duties company officials already have to handle. Edgar agents handle this process for them in order to ensure they are in compliance with the SEC rules. In order to get started with an EDGAR filing agent, you need to provide certain information. For instance, you will need to provide both your CIK (Central Index Key) and CCC (CIK Confirmation Code) numbers to the agent. These are unique codes given to entities in order to file forms with the SEC. Your company then emails the documents that need to be filed. The filing agent EDGARizes the documents, and you are given the opportunity to review them. After your review, the agent will file the forms with the SEC.

These services can often work very quickly, if you are in a time crunch. As with any service you hire, you should check on the reputation of the company. Also, are they knowledgeable about all aspects of the EDGAR system and filing requirements? Do they file your documents or only prepare them? Registered agents can help you handle the necessary forms, ensuring that your company is up-to-date with the SEC's regulations.