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Case
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Reference no. HKS1014.0
Published by: Harvard Kennedy School
Published in: 1990

Abstract

When the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission decides to try to improve the speed and spread of the new information about firms contained in SEC filings, he turns to a computer system. On one level, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System-known as EDGAR-does nothing more than change the form of legally-required corporate filings from paper to computer-readable copy. The effect, however, is to change the nature of the jobs performed by SEC reviewers and investment house analysts alike, as well as providing small investors with information previously not available to them in a timely fashion. The case notes the high-level nature of this computer system decision and invites analysis of the implications, foreseen and unforeseen, of EDGAR.

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Abstract

When the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission decides to try to improve the speed and spread of the new information about firms contained in SEC filings, he turns to a computer system. On one level, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System-known as EDGAR-does nothing more than change the form of legally-required corporate filings from paper to computer-readable copy. The effect, however, is to change the nature of the jobs performed by SEC reviewers and investment house analysts alike, as well as providing small investors with information previously not available to them in a timely fashion. The case notes the high-level nature of this computer system decision and invites analysis of the implications, foreseen and unforeseen, of EDGAR.

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