Reporting Dimensions

Since there are a number of ways to look at company financials, the fundamentals data is delivered in multiple time dimensions. These are outlined in the table below.

As Reported view (AR)

• excludes restatements
• point-in-time view with data time-indexed to the date the form 10 regulatory filing was submitted to the SEC
• presents data for the latest reporting period at that filing date
• may include multiple observations in a quarter if more than one filing is made during the quarter
• on limited occassion may not have any observations in a particular quarter. Sometimes companies are delayed in reporting for up to 18 months. On such occassions they may report multiple documents on the same date to catch up, in which case these datasets will only provide date for the most recent reporting period.
• typically suitable for back-testing

Most-Recent Reported view (MR)

• includes restatements
• time indexed to the financial/report period
• presents the most recently reported data for that reporting period
• typically suitable for assessing business performance after restatements for mergers/divestitures

Time Dimensions

• Annual (Y): Annual observations of one year duration
• Trailing Twelve Months (T): Quarterly observations of one year duration
• Quarterly (Q): Quarterly observations of quarterly duration (available only for US domestic companies, unavailable for foreign companies)

Restatements

When companies restate financials for prior reporting periods, the MR dimensions are updated to reflect these changes. For example, Post Holdings, Inc. (POST) restated their revenue for prior year financials. This can be seen in the chart below as the difference between the AR and MR revenue dimensions.

It is important to note that when the quarterly values are not restated (as in 2020 in the chart), the entire impact of the restatement will be captured in the final MRQ data point. This is to ensure alignment between the quarterly and annual financials.

Time Indexing

The As-Reported dimensions present a point-in-time view with data time-indexed to the date of the form 10 regulatory filing to the SEC.

This aligns more closely with the date that information was disseminated to the market, and the corresponding market impact and is a more accurate measure than the reporting period which the Most-Recent Reported dimensions utilize, which are typically months before the information reaches the market, and subject to restatement.

It must be noted that the fundamentals data is based on the form 10 filings and the information may have been separately disclosed to the market days (or on rare occassion - weeks) earlier under separate form 8 regulatory filing.