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Using the Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) database
Who is this article for?
Users who want to learn about the Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) database.
No special access or permissions are required.
The Audit Analytics AAERs database contains detailed information about SEC enforcement actions against public and private companies, auditors, law firms, and individuals.
It includes enforcement actions related to financial reporting, covering civil lawsuits brought by the SEC in federal court and administrative proceedings.
1. Common uses
- Identify enforcement actions where an auditor was named as a respondent
- Track types of violations using a proprietary list of issues
- Monitor outcomes such as respondent orders, financial penalties, bars, prohibitions, suspensions, and reinstatements
- Key fields include violations, issues, respondents, respondent orders, and related parties
- View summaries of all releases related to a specific violation in the AAER event download
- Access data for each respondent in each AAER via the AAER respondent download
The AAER database is available online, through WRDS, and as data feeds (Feed91) with a relevant subscription.
- Saved Search Alert: Yes
- Daily Summary Email: No
2. Collection methodology
- Data is sourced from SEC AAERs listed on the SEC website.
3. Searching
- The AAER search page offers the following filters:
| Name | Description | Data Dictionary Field(s) | Sort By? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filter by Respondent Auditor | Filter for a specific auditor or group of auditors | Respondent Auditor Names | No |
| Filter by Respondent Law Firms | Filter for a specific law firm or law firms | Respondent Law Firm Names | No |
| Search by Respondent CIK Code or AAER Release Number | Filter results to a specific population | Respondent CIK | Yes |
| Search by Person Respondent | Filter by the raw name of each person respondent | Person Respondents | No |
| Search by Summary Text | Filter by specific text keywords | N/A | No |
| Search In |
| N/A | No |
| AAER Issues |
| N/A | No |
| AAER Orders |
| N/A | No |
| Violation Period | Filter by years relevant violations occurred as disclosed in release | Period of Violations | Yes |
| First Release Date | Filter by file date for earliest release in an AAER event | First Release Date | Yes |
| Most Recent Release Date | Filter by file date for most recent release in an AAER event | Most Recent Release Date | Yes |
4. Results
- Results can be viewed at the bottom of the page.
- The following are accessible via hyperlinks:
- AAER Data Dictionary download
- CSV file downloads of the results
- All fields in the CSV are defined in the Data Dictionary
- AAER Release File
- Most Recent AAER Release File