While we spend a significant amount of time trying to develop new features the truth of the matter is that directEDGAR is still my preferred way to review filings even especially when I have to hand collect something. I am sharing this because in the last three weeks I have had several users ask an unrelated question and in a subsequent conversation it turns out that they were also visiting EDGAR to review some filings for data. My sense from these conversations was that they thought the effort of going to EDGAR was less than firing up directEDGAR because their N was relatively small. My rule of thumb has generally been that if I need to look at more than 5 filings of one type I save more time by using directEDGAR versus visiting EDGAR – and frankly with the new front-end on EDGAR I am starting to think my N should be 2.

I have 37 proxy statements filed in 2022 I need to review this morning from 18 different filers. The short story is I need to establish why we have multiple proxies for these particular filers and how we should code the DC/EC data that was pulled from these filing. I hope this does not sound too arrogant but I feel like I am pretty adept at navigating EDGAR efficiently. So when I assert that using directEDGAR is much faster than using the EDGAR interface. I am already factoring in my experience.

If I use the EDGAR interface to review these proxies I have to start by keying/pasting in the CIK and remembering to hit the TAB key (rather than enter argh!).

I land on the new landing page and because I need to scan each of the two (or in one case three) proxies I need to hit the Classic version link to load the no-frills listing of filings in date order. From there I need to key in DEF 14A to load the proxies.

Next, I need to click on the filing links to open to the landing page for the filing and then I need to click on the link to the actual filings before I can review and draw the conclusion I need to draw. Even describing the process is tedious. Type in CIK, hit Classic version link, type DEF 14A, select each relevant link to open and then hit the actual proxy filing link before I can review the filing.

Using directEDGAR has a slightly higher start-up cost because I have to log-in and wait for my session to load but that start-up cost becomes meaningless when we consider the need to look at multiple filings from multiple filers. Here is a video I made that demonstrates the way I would more efficiently access the same collection of documents.

While I grant you that you have to log-in; that time cost is quickly mitigated by the fact that all of the documents you need to review are available. Remember – the SummaryExtraction tool creates a list of the documents with all of the required metadata in the same order the documents are displayed in the Search Results frame so you have a ready tool to use to make the appropriate notes that you need from your review.

Frankly, with the changes to EDGAR over the last year I try to avoid it even more. I will go to EDGAR to look at one or two filings. Maybe a year ago I might have gone to look at ten or so. With the latest interface I get frustrated when the CIK will not come up in the search box the first time or I can’t get a name match if I am using names.