Frequently Asked Questions

Public companies in the United States report quarterly and annual financial results to the SEC. The companies typically first release quarterly financial results through earnings press releases and then, several weeks later, formally report those financials to the SEC in their 10-Q filings. At the end of each fiscal year, companies release annual financial results through press releases and subsequently file their 10-K filings.

The SEC introduced the EDGAR electronic filing system in 1996, requiring companies to report financial information in a standardized format. Initially covering approximately 20 line items, EDGAR has expanded to include more than 280 standardized line items today. As a result, companies effectively report financials in two formats: their own presentation structure and the standardized EDGAR line-item framework.

In the 1980s, Zacks created its original standardized financial dataset consisting of 61 income statement and balance sheet line items. In 1986, cash flow statement coverage was added, expanding the template to 87 standardized items. Beginning in 2001, Zacks expanded the original 87-item Industrial template to 170 line items and introduced five additional industry-specific templates for Banking, Insurance, REITs, Utilities, and Brokerage — bringing the total to more than 600 standardized financial line items.

Each company is classified into one of the six templates, and its reported Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow line items are mapped into the corresponding standardized items.

Frequently, companies restate historical financials due to acquisitions, divestitures, and accounting changes. Most investors use restated financials for current analysis, while quantitative analysts require original data for backtesting models. Zacks is one of very few data vendors to provide both restated and originally reported fundamental data.

All data is captured 'As Originally Reported' for both annual and quarterly filings from SEC Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and from company-issued press releases. Subsequent restatements and/or amendments are captured and archived separately, providing true point-in-time data for backtesting and full restated statements for current analysis.

When companies issue earnings press releases, Zacks captures the data on the day of the release. This preliminary data populates the primary fundamental database until it is overwritten when the actual SEC reports are filed. The preliminary data is archived separately for backtesting purposes. Key items from the earnings release are also provided in Zacks Surprise files on the same day as the release.

Zacks employs a rigorous quality control process. For each company, a trained analyst enters data from SEC filings, which is then double-checked by a senior analyst. Once entered, a senior analyst signs off on final completion after reviewing all data. Additionally, data is subjected to a battery of automated checks to verify balancing relationships and correct errors.

In the Zacks Research System (ZRS), each standardized item is linked to its underlying company-specific item, which in turn is linked to its corresponding SEC filing. This linkage allows users to verify accuracy and trace how company-specific data is mapped into the standardized format.

The historical fundamental database provided with the Zacks Research System (ZRS) backtesting software includes over 12,000 non-survivor companies. Including these companies is essential to removing survivor bias from backtest results.

When quantitative analysts use fundamental data and ratios in backtesting models, they need the original financials as they existed at historical dates. Where restatements exist at sequential dates, the task becomes more complex — some ratios use originals while others blend originals and restated figures. Zacks historical fundamental databases, as provided in the ZRS Backtesting system, make it easy for quantitative analysts to use fundamental data accurately in backtesting.

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