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.
