How to Build a Point-in-Time SEC EDGAR Fundamentals Database — and Its Pitfalls

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Point-in-time (PIT) fundamentals databases record what financial data was publicly known at any given moment, preventing 'lookahead bias' in backtesting where restated figures distort historical analysis. The SEC's EDGAR system provides free, structured XBRL financial data for all US filers via a public API, making it technically possible to build a PIT database independently. Key construction steps include filtering for annual 10-K filings, resolving inconsistent XBRL tags across reporting years, and stamping each data point with its original filing date rather than the fiscal period end. Restatement detection — tracking when companies later revise previously reported figures — is identified as a particularly error-prone step, with even well-intentioned builds risking silent data corruption. The guide ultimately advises developers to weigh the significant engineering effort and quality-assurance burden against the option of purchasing a professionally maintained dataset.

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ProgrammingHacker News ·

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