On October 1, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.3 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contains changes to the N-CEN and N-PORT EDGAR forms as well as improvements to EDGAR XBRL validation in addition to other changes.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is planning to release EDGAR 18.3 in October 2018. The EDGAR Filer Manual (Volume II) will also be updated to Version 48 with this release. These changes will take effect on October 1 if approved (for non-rule based changes; see the SEC Final Rules posted here for rule-based changes and their implementation dates).

On July 18th, the SEC announced it will adopt amendments to Regulation ATS to enhance operational transparency and regulatory oversight of alternative trading systems (ATSs). This pertains to such systems that trade stocks listed on a national securities exchange (NMS Stock ATSs).

On July 9, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.2 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contains a number of changes to various EDGAR forms as well as support for the IFRS 2018 XBRL taxonomy.

On June 28, 2018, the SEC voted to adopt amendments to the XBRL reporting requirements that would require registrants to use the Inline XBRL format for the submission of financial statement information and fund risk/return summary information.

With the last EDGAR release, the Securities and Exchange Commission updated EDGAR to accept the US GAAP 2018 taxonomy among other new taxonomies. It’s always a good practice to transition your SEC filings as soon as possible when the SEC accepts the new taxonomy year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun accepting XBRL filings under the new 2018 US-GAAP Taxonomy. Four of the nine SEC-maintained XBRL taxonomies have been altered: the DEI, EXCH, RR,
and STPR taxonomies.

On March 12, 2018, EDGAR Release 18.1 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release introduces new form types SF-1MEF and 486BXT and contains various changes and corrections to other forms.

On February 12th, the SEC released a notice to N-CEN and N-PORT filers to remind them of the temporary final rule which requires funds in larger fund groups (for example, fund groups with $1 billion or more in net assets) to maintain in their records the information that is mandated to be included in Form N-PORT in lieu of filing this form via EDGAR. The temporary final rule applies until April 1, 2019. Of key importance, the information the funds in larger fund groups maintain in their records will be subject to examination by the Commission. New Forms N-PORT and N-CEN were adopted by the SEC on October 13th, 2016 in an effort to enhance transparency and modernize reporting requirements for registered investment companies.

The SEC announced on December 8th, 2017 that filing Form N-PORT on the EDGAR system will now not become mandatory until April 2019 for larger fund groups and April 2020 for smaller fund groups. However, these groups should still prepare and maintain N-PORT information in their records and make it available to the SEC upon request. This decision to modify Form N-PORT’s filing requirements comes as the agency continues its previously announced review and uplift of its EDGAR and other systems.

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 2018 schedule is now available from the SEC.

In 2017, there were a number of new changes in EDGAR compliance and new developments in SEC regulations. These have a significant impact on financial record-keeping, financial reporting and capital formation. As we head into 2018, let’s recap some of the most significant changes that happened last year.

On December 11, 2017, EDGAR Release 17.4 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release introduces a change to allow (but not require) Asset Backed Securities filers to jointly submit Form 10-D and Form ABS-EE filings in a combined, single submission (a “Combined 10-D/ABS-EE”). New form types N-LIQUID and CERT were also added to EDGAR, among other changes.

At CFA’s Investor Forum 2017, a panel of industry experts discussed case studies that illustrate XBRL’s use in accounting and financial reporting and the rationale behind its adoption. This panel discussed different ways in which XBRL is employed in the financial sector.

The SEC is proposing amendments to modernize and simplify certain disclosures requirements in Regulation S-K. These changes are based on the recommendations made in the staff’s Report on Modernization and Simplification of Regulation S-K, as required by Section 72003 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act). While modernizing Regulation S-K requirements and improving readability and navigability of related forms, these rules are also intended to reduce costs and burdens on registrants and discourage repetition and disclosure of immaterial information.