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What the SEC Is, and Why Public Companies Have to File With It

Reading SEC Filings • Beginner Investing • 6 min

Every detailed financial disclosure a public company makes exists because of a specific piece of U.S. law, born directly out of the country's worst stock market crash — not out of corporate generosity or public relations strategy. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, a direct legislative response to the 1929 stock market crash and the widespread fraud and…

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