Canada – SEDAR
A system through which issuers submit public securities papers and information to the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).
The System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) is a system through which issuers submit public securities papers and information to the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).
Created in 1997 by the CSA, SEDAR is operated and managed by CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants Inc.
It enables listed companies to share information about securities with Canadian Securities Administrators. Through this system, some documents are made available to the public, which also can be accessed by those who need to make use of or are interested in them.
The website is the official source for public access to public securities filings, issuer profiles, and the most recent news on public data, which can be a good resource for people who are doing related research.
This information was made public with the intent to increase the investor's knowledge of issuers' operations and affairs and to foster trust in the openness of Canada's capital markets. Distributing reliable information to market players is crucial to achieving this goal.
The purpose of it is to:
- Facilitate the electronic reporting of information about securities as needed by Canadian securities regulatory bodies;
- Permit the public release of data gathered about Canadian securities during the filing process for guarantees;
- Interconnect the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, electronic filers, and agents via electronic communication.
In principle, all Canadian issuers who have sold shares without a prospectus or with a prospectus exemption must submit their paperwork through their system.
Additionally, certain third parties who are involved in transactions like takeover bids or proxy fights may need to file.
The British Columbia Securities Commission, Alberta Securities Commission, and Ontario Securities Commission engaged a new service provider to operate the website on January 11th, 2014.
Since then, the Alberta Securities Commission has been the CSA member with the authority to grant licenses and make agreements with the users.
Background
Most securities-related information is electronically filed with the Canadian securities regulatory bodies using the SEDAR. They began accepting filings on January 1st, 1997.
For example, investment funds and publicly traded businesses in Canada must submit financial data to the Canadian Securities Administrators.
The information is made public to give current and potential investors transparency into the company's financial situation.
Even businesses that are going private are required to use it to submit specific information to the Canadian Securities Administrators.
Besides the common financial statements, such as the cash flow, income, and balance sheet, companies are also required to upload financial statements.
Footnotes, insider transactions, business descriptions, management's discussion and analysis (MD&A), executive compensation, notices of annual shareholder meetings, and other information are also required to upload to CSA.
Most Canadian reporting issuers must use this system to deal with their filing issues. Its rules and forms can provide details on the regulations governing electronic filing.
The system enables businesses to file securities documents and pay filing costs online, saving time and money.
The system also offers consumers quick, informed access to publicly available issuer data and acts as a vital conduit for communication between issuers, filers, and securities regulatory bodies.
The SEDAR Filer Software is a filer interface through which reporting issuers and other filers can file electronically. They upload documents on its website, and then the CSA makes them publicly available. In this way, this system provides access to public resources.
To be specific, the reporting issuers and other filers can either look for a filing agent who is a subscriber to the filing service to help or become a subscriber themselves to file electronically on this system.
The relevant securities regulatory agencies can electronically retrieve documents filed in the system for inspection.
The documents can be accessed in the following ways after being accepted and becoming a part of the public database:
- Using this website's NEW FILINGS or SEARCH DATABASE options
- Searching for public documents using the filer software
- For business customers, using the data distribution service
Investment funds and publicly traded businesses in Canada must submit financial data to the Canadian Securities Administrators.
The information is made public to give current and potential investors transparency into the company's financial situation.
How to Become a Filing Service Subscriber
Becoming a filing service subscriber is an efficient way for filers to file electronically on SEDAR.
To become a filing service subscriber, an electronic filer must submit specific documents to the CSA in electronic format, according to National Instrument 13-101 — System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (NI 13-101).
A further requirement of NI 13-101 is that all payments due to the CSA to submit a document must be paid electronically. Additionally, the system fees must be paid electronically.
By allowing filing service subscribers to keep an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) bank account and send electronic payment instructions the moment an electronic filing is transmitted, the SEDAR makes payments easier.
The electronic filer must either:
- Sign up as a filing service subscriber to submit documents electronically through the system.
- Keep one or more filing agents who are filing service subscribers and provide them permission to file documents electronically on the filer's behalf.
Examples of filing agents include law firms, financial printers, trust organizations serving as transfer agents and registrars, press release distributors, and other service providers.
Electronic filers have the option of becoming filing service subscribers to make some electronic filings directly when practical and to rely on filing agents to make other electronic files when doing so is more practical or necessary.
A subscriber to the filing service must:
- Examine the data in the information package, which contains links to the required forms and data.
- Complete and sign both Form 1 and Form 2.
- Send Forms 1 and 2 completely through fax, mail, or email as instructed in the Information Package.
- Review the relevant installation guide to ensure they have the necessary gear, software, and Internet access.
- Hire a filing agent to handle the required electronic payments for each filing, or create an EDI account to handle them.
How Investors Can Use this?
Investors who want to monitor a company's development can quickly access the securities-related information submitted through SEDAR.
When visiting the website, an investor or analyst can search the database for a certain filing or look for new filings. The most recent documents uploaded are listed in the section on new filings.
New annual reports, financial statements, news releases, prospectuses, takeover bid documents, and investment fund filings are all separated from the new filings.
Investors looking for detailed information on a certain firm or investment fund can search the database for it. The search criteria include the company name, industry/sector group, document type, and date range.
One or more reports are created in English or French based on the information entered in the search fields.
For instance, a potential investor would enter the firm name and choose the 'Annual Report' document type to read a company's annual reports from the previous five years.
Additionally, the investor will choose a period from 2012 to 2017 to reflect the previous five years.
The investor will be presented with a list of five reports—five in English and five in French—and be required to accept the terms and conditions before they may download and save the PDF file on their computer.
The most crucial documents created to examine a firm are the financial statements, annual reports, MD&A, prospectus, and NI 43-101 reports.
Companies undertaking mineral projects must disclose information regarding mineral exploration, development, and production in the National Instruments 43-101 report.
The information presented in these announcements and reports may affect an investor's choice to purchase, sell, or hold company shares.
It facilitates quicker communication between the Canadian Securities Authorities and reporting issuers.
Investors and financial professionals can access reports more quickly and make wise investment decisions for their portfolios. Material information of publicly traded companies is also uploaded in this system. This is a win-win scenario for both investors and corporations.
Documents on SEDAR
Documents submitted by an issuer to a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators via this website are originally confidential.
The relevant records are made available to the public by the CSA following a screening process. These publications are made available via the Data Distribution Service as soon as they are deemed "public."
Examples of continuous disclosure documents include press releases, annual reports, financial statements, and meeting notices.
Canadian Securities Administrators do not need to examine these documents because they are immediately available through the Data Distribution Service.
Canadian issuers can submit their prospectus-related, exempt market, and continuous disclosure papers via the filing application from Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 11 PM ET.
When an issuer submits documents to the Canadian Securities Administrators, they originally hold the designation "private."
The Canadian Securities Administrators make the pertinent records available to the public following a review process. These public records will, after that, be accessible on SEDAR in fifteen minutes.
The CSA made an effort to find a middle ground between the needs of filers seeking a fast way to submit their documents on this platform and the need to make the records readily accessible to the public.
The choice was made to make PDF the standard file format for its filings. Since then, the filing program has accepted XBRL files in XML format and some filings for exempt markets in XLSX format.
Your Issuer Profile is maintained on the Filing Application Server and may be accessed by any user with appropriate authorization. If you have the application installed, you can use the Profile Management module Update function to update your profile.
If you utilize a filing agent to manage your submissions to the securities regulatory authorities, please let them know so they can make the necessary changes to the profile. The website will update to reflect the profile updates in fifteen minutes.
FAQs
The SEDAR system contains the majority of the documents that must, by law, be filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and many documents that may be lodged with Canadian exchanges (market centers).
You can find insider reports at www.sedi.ca. The Filer Manual, available online, contains a comprehensive list of every document included.
A corporation, investment fund, or investment fund group's basic information, such as addresses, phone numbers, and stock market listings, can be found in a profile.
The public can access copies of all documents filed in the system on this website, along with profiles of every filer. This website does not provide information about documents filed just with Canadian exchanges.
After screening, the securities regulatory agencies release the pertinent records to the public. As soon as these papers are declared "public," they are made accessible through the Data Distribution Service.
News releases, financial statements, meeting notices, annual reports, and exempt market documents are examples of continuous disclosure documents that can be found within 15 minutes of being filed on the website.
The Canadian Securities Administrators attempted to strike a compromise between the interests of filers looking for a mechanism to quickly file their documents on this platform and the aim to make the documents widely accessible to the public.
Any user who has the authorization to do so may access your issuer profile, which is kept on the filing application server. You can update your profile using the Profile Management module Update function if you have the program installed.
Researched and Authored by Xinyue Xu
Reviewed and edited by Divya Ananth | LinkedIn
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