When you’ve spent years focused on the depth of numbers in SEC filings, you come to appreciate what transparency really means, says Olga Usvyatsky, founder of Deep Quarry, a filings site and newsletter on Substack. She’s a former vice president of research at Audit Analytics, who came to the world of 8Ks, 10Ks and everything in between through her work in data analytics.
She’s also one of a number of people who pore over SEC filings not just because it’s their job but also because they love finding the interesting numbers tucked away in a company statement or the unusual perks an executive might be taking home. So when Nick Mazing of AlphaSense described someone as an ‘SEC influencer’ on LinkedIn, Governance Intelligence sister publication IR Magazine decided to get in touch with a few of these filings experts. Who are these people? What is it they’re looking for, how do they dig into the details – and what makes them tick?
‘For me, accounting was always about information. And the best place to get information about a company is in the SEC filings,’ says Usvyatsky, who launched Deep Quarry in 2023. Mining the numbers for many years, she explains that ‘early in my career, I joined a company that collected and analyzed data from SEC filings. As part of my job, I read literally thousands of filings. That’s how you start seeing the differences in reporting style between companies – and how you learn to appreciate good transparency.’
What Usvyatsky means when she talks about transparency extends beyond the filing itself. ‘I love to see consistent presentation across all media channels,’ she explains. ‘The objective of financial statements is to provide material information to investors. And it can get very confusing when you see a piece of information in a 10K filing and then hear a contradictory piece of information during an earnings call, an investor day presentation or on social media. That can get very confusing.’
Click here to read the full article.
Garnet Roach
Garnet Roach joined IR Magazine in October 2012, working on both the editorial and research sides of the publication. Prior to entering the world of investor relations, her freelance career covered a broad range of subjects, from technology to...
