Abstract:
When the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission decided to try to improve the speed and spread of the new information about firms contained in SEC filings, he turned to a computer system. On one level, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval System--known as EDGAR--did nothing more than change the form of legally-required corporate filings from paper to computer-readable copy. The effect, however, was 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.
Learning Objective:
The case notes the high-level nature of this computer system decision and invites analysis of the implications, foreseen and unforeseen, of EDGAR.
