On April 24th, the SEC announced the agenda for its May 31st forum that will discuss distributed ledger technology and assets. This conference, which is the 2019 FinTech Forum, will be held by the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) and will begin at 9:30 am EST in Washington, DC at the SEC’s Headquarters. It will be open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis.

On April 1, 2019, EDGAR Release 19.1.1 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release included a new “confidential” flag for NPORT-P and NPORT-NP filings as well as changes to the Dissemination Rule for N-PORT filings. Additionally, filers are now allowed submit NPORT-EX as an attachment to NPORT-P and NPORT-NP after August 31, 2019.

Version 4.26b of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release corresponds to EDGAR Release 19.1.1 and contains a number of improvements to Form N-CEN View and Form N-PORT View. Additionally, this version contains new functions for XDX, support for the XBRL Previewer for EDGAR 19.1.1, and improvements to some general EDGAR tools.

The next release of GoFiler, version 4.26b, has been scheduled for release on Friday, March 29. Please note that this deviates from our normal update schedule. This change has been made to ensure that users will have uninterrupted access to all of the filing tools should they require the updates for EDGAR 19.1.1, which is due for release by the SEC on April 1.

On March 20th, the SEC adopted amendments to modernize and simplify disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K for public companies, investment advisers, and investment companies. Like previous amendments, these changes are consistent with the SEC’s mandate under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and are based on recommendations in the staff’s FAST Act Report and a broader review of the SEC’s disclosure rules. These changes are expected to benefit investors through eliminating outdated and unnecessary disclosure while improving the readability and navigability of company disclosures. They should also reduce repetition and the disclosure of irrelevant and immaterial information. In addition, these amendments are expected to reduce costs and burdens on registrants.

With the last EDGAR release, the Securities and Exchange Commission updated EDGAR to accept the US GAAP 2019 taxonomy among other new taxonomies. It’s always a good practice to transition your SEC filings as soon as possible when the SEC accepts the new taxonomy year.

Version 4.26a of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release corresponds to EDGAR Release 19.1 and contains a number of improvements to Form N-CEN View, general EDGAR forms, and XBRL. Additionally, this version contains support for the US GAAP 2019 taxonomy.

On March 11, 2019, EDGAR Release 19.1 was released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This release contains expanded support for Inline XBRL, support for the 2019 taxonomies and changes to a number of EDGAR XML forms, including ABS-EE, the Regulation A forms, Form MA, Form N-CEN and the N-PORT forms.

Version 4.25d of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release contains a number of improvements to Form N-CEN View, general EDGAR forms, the Export XBRL to Excel function and to XDX and iXBRL. Additionally, improvements were made to the Virtual File Cloud browser feature, which can now be enabled via the application preferences.

On February 14th, the SEC extended the comment period on proposed rulemaking concerning variable annuities and variable life insurance contracts. These proposed rules and form changes, which were originally published in the Federal Register on November 30, 2018, help investors make informed investment decisions regarding these contracts. The SEC has received numerous requests for additional time from the public and believes such time will allow the public to thoroughly consider the proposals and provide useful feedback that can guide the SEC in its decision process.

To aid filers avoid missing deadlines and reduce congestion around busy important filing dates, the SEC provides an anticipated peak filing schedule. Peak EDGAR filing times are estimated using historical data. The 2019 schedule is now available from the SEC.

Version 4.25c of all applications in the GoFiler Suite has been released. This release contains a number of improvements to Form N-CEN View, Form SDR View and Form ABS-EE View. Additionally, improvements and corrections were made to Page View and to general file recovery across all software platforms.

The SEC will be closed Monday, January 21 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The EDGAR System will not receive, process or accept filings on this day. Filings with a due date of January 21 will be due the following business day.

On January 15th, the SEC announced charges against nine defendants for participation in a previously disclosed scheme to hack into the EDGAR system for the purposes of illegal trading. Included in the defendants were a Ukranian hacker and six individual traders in California, Ukraine, and Russia. There were also two entities charged. The hacker and some of the traders were involved in a similar scheme to hack into newswire services to trade on information not yet publicly available. As a result of those activities, the hacker and his conspirators were charged in 2015.