Financial Statement API / XBRL

Question

Was wondering, anyone know how to get data automatically from Edgar? (free or otherwise)

I've looked into getting it from yahoo/google, but they consolidate information (like different revenue categories will be grouped into one revenue item). I've seen a few paid sites like Zacks, but they also do the consolidating.

Alternatively, is there a way to load the different statements using XBRL through an api or otherwise? I can't say I completely understand how XBRL works, but it seems like an XML interface to access different statements as-reported (published by companies themselves).

Answer 1

After looking into this, here is what I have determined (Note: as a CPA and XBRL expert, I have limited IT knowledge). The SEC offers an RSS feed of all live XBRL filings. They also offer FTP of XBRL history via a service. My understanding is that if you know how to write an FTP script, you can use that to load the XBRL into a SQL database. You could then use the RSS to collect live filings into SQL database.

FTP: ftp://ftp.sec.gov RSS: http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/xbrl/filings-and-feeds.shtml

If you are looking for a way to automate XBRL creation, some XBRL tools offer API for collecting data from accounting and financial reporting systems. The XBRL tools would give you the ability to "tweek" the financial reporting taxonomy from quarter to quarter as needed. It would also provide automated validation and reporting tools. The XBRL software I am most familiar with is Fujitsu's XWand, but there are other good options as well. XWand has the API functionality and can be tightly integrated into Fujitsu's related BPM tool for managing workflow (http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/software/interstage/solutions/xbrl/).

Hope this helps,

Jeff

Answer 2

In answering your question of "Alternatively, is there a way to load the different statements using XBRL through an api or otherwise?" I might point you to Gepsio, an XBRL document object model for .NET. You can use it in .NET applications to consume, validate and report back on the various entries in an XBRL document.

Since Gepsio is a .NET component, it can also be used from PowerShell, which basically brings XBRL consumption and validation into scripting environments. This blog post offers an example of using Gepsio from within PowerShell.

As far as automaically consuming Edgar documents, you should be aware that Gepsio can automatically consume documents posted on the Web, by specifying the URL to the XBRL document when you call Gepsio's XbrlDocument.Load() method. The PowerShell example shown in the blog post noted above gives an example of loading XBRL from the Web.

A blog post found here also illustrates the use of Gepsio from C#.