SEC Extends Hours for Regulatory Filings

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday extended the hours for regulatory filings in a move to help companies that can’t always operate on Wall Street time.

Known as EDGAR, or electronic data gathering, analysis and retrieval, the database will post filings until 7 p.m. PDT, 4 1/2 hours later than before.

A source at the commission said the new hours should make life easier for European and California-based companies, for example, that often have to juggle time zone differences to get their filings in on time.

The SEC is conducting a six-month trial to gauge support for the extended hours.

The filings, which include proxy statements and annual and quarterly financial reports, are available for free at the SEC’s Web site at www.sec.gov.