What does SEC mean in GOVERNMENTAL

The SEC is a federal agency responsible for protecting investors, maintaining fair and orderly functioning of the securities markets, and facilitating capital formation. The SEC oversees the key participants in the securities world, including exchanges, brokers, investment advisors, and mutual funds.

The SEC regulates all aspects of securities offerings, corporate disclosure requirements related to those offerings, trading in securities on secondary markets such as stock exchanges, broker dealers’ activities such as underwriting and resale of securities activities, issuing reports regarding sales or purchases that cross certain thresholds (referred to as insider trading), regulation of mutual funds, hedge funds and other investment companies.

Every company that offers its own securities (stocks or bonds) for sale to the public must register with the SEC. Broker-dealers who offer transactions in stocks or other securities must also register with the SEC. Investment companies offering their own mutual fund must also register with the SEC.

Companies filing with the SEC generally need to file registration statements such as Form S-1 for IPOs or Form 10 for periodic disclosure reports required by law; they may also need to file proxy materials seeking approval from shareholders on important business matters; financial disclosures in Forms 10-Ks and 10-Qs; XBRL filings; EDGAR information requests; Schedule 13Ds and 13Gs for reporting changes in ownership; tender offers filing on Form 14D-1 and more.

The EDGAR database maintained by the Securities Exchange Commission contains communications made to/from an issuer of registered securities concerning pertinent corporate information. The public can access this information free through either EDGAR Online at www.sec.gov/edgar or use search tools from third party sites such as finance sites like Yahoo!, Google Finance etc., which will pull data directly from EDGAR based on a ticker symbol search query.

Any person who wishes to become a broker dealer's registered representative must pass an exam administered by FINRA known as Series 7 Exam before they can begin work at a firm in order to establish proficiency about dealing with customers’ investments needs as well as understanding laws governing both firms' operations and transactions thereof. He/she would then have to be approved by FINRA after satisfactory completion of all formalities before being allowed officially represent any brokerage firm's interests in handling customer's integrity at all time throughout their employment period.

You can submit tips electronically through [email protected] or call toll free hotline number 1-800-SEC TIPS (1-800-732 8477). All tips are confidential even if no action is taken by enforcement staff thereafter.