Registrants may not always submit filings to EDGAR using their own Central Index Key (or CIK). When a company registers with the SEC, they are assigned a CIK that they can use to transmit data to EDGAR. CIKs are 10 digit numbers that are used on the SEC's computer systems to identify corporations and individual people who have filed with the SEC. CIKs are issued to a number of different entities, including Filing Agents (who perform filings on behalf of other entities). Because a filing may be transmitted by agents or a related entity to the registrant, the actual filer who performed the filing may not have the same CIK as the registrant. Some registrants prefer to submit filings using their own CIK and access codes. Other registrants outsource the preparation of their filings to an agent, who will submit those filings using their own CIK and access codes. Still other registrants may submit joint reports, using one of the CIKs to file for multiple companies.
For these reasons, it may be important to determine the identity of the filer who submitted a filing to EDGAR, and the CIK is the identifier that can be used to determine the submitter of a filing (who could be a registrant, non-registrant, filing agent, or training agent, as mentioned).
Each filing on EDGAR, test or live, receives an accession number to identify it. Accession numbers are reported to submitters and filers in the acceptance and suspension messages, so even filings that are not accepted by EDGAR will receive an accession number.
Each accession number consists of three components, as described below:
A | B | C |
0000000000 | 00 | 000000 |
The CIK of the entity that submitted the filing. This may not be the registrant's CIK! | The last two digits of the year the filing was submitted. | A unique number assigned to the filing. This number is sequentially generated when the CIK in Part A submits filings to the SEC. |
So, for example, a filing with the accession number 0000990681-20-000001 is the first filing in the year 2020 by CIK number 0000990681. A filing with the accession number 0000990681-20-000002 would be the second filing submitted by that entity.
To identify the entity who belongs to the CIK, you can use the SEC Company Database. (If the CIK belongs to a registrant, you can also use the regular SEC search tools available at https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html.)
To access the database:
- Use a web browser to navigate to https://www.edgarcompany.sec.gov/. Alternatively, you can click ? > SEC Websites > Search Company Database inside your software to launch the site in your default browser.
- Click the Company Database Search button.
- Enter the CIK in the Search Parameters.
- Click the Submit button.
- The results of the search will appear. Click the View Summary button to view a summary of the results.
The information that a company or individual has provided to the SEC can be viewed by clicking the link that is the name. Depending on the type of entity and whether the entity keeps their records up to date with the SEC, the information may be limited and may not be current. However, this is the entity that performed the filing.
