Who is this article for?

Users who need to identify and filter companies for research.

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Ideagen Audit Analytics offers several methods to build your research population, from searching specific entities to filtering by industry, market segment, or entity type.

1. Searching for specific entities

If you already have specific SEC companies in mind, the fastest path is the Search SEC Companies field on your dashboard.

1.1. Single company

To search for a single company:

1. Type a company name, ticker, or CIK code into the Search SEC Companies field.
2. Select the company from the results to go directly to its profile.

1.2. Multiple companies

To search for multiple companies:

1. Go to the database search page.
2. Enter multiple identifiers into the Search by Ticker or CIK Code field, separated by spaces or commas.

Note

The identifier used varies depending on the entity type and market. For example, use CIK and ticker for SEC registrants, SEDAR Issuer Number for Canadian companies, Series Number for funds, and EIN for non-profits.

1.3. Non-SEC registrant entities

To search for entities beyond SEC registrants (audit firms, broker-dealers, non-profits, funds, European companies):

1. Use the Search All Entities field on the dashboard.
2. Toggle between character search and boolean search as needed.
3. Limit results to listed companies if required.
4. Use the Search Sources picklist to narrow to a specific entity type (such as auditors, European companies, funds, or RIAs).

2. Filtering

Most core database search pages include a Search Industries filter that lets you select companies by SIC or NAICS code:

• SIC codes are self-reported by the filer in the SEC filing header. Because they are self-reported, they may not be populated for every entity
• NAICS codes are assigned by Ideagen Audit Analytics analysts based on the company's primary line of business at the time the entity is first added to the system. NAICS codes are not updated if the company's business changes over time

The two classification systems may return different results due to differences in source and coverage. The CSV download includes both SIC and NAICS fields for most databases, allowing you to cross-reference or filter by either classification in your spreadsheet.

2.1. By industry

To filter by industry:

1. Go to the database search page.
2. Locate the Search Industries filter.
3. Select one or more SIC or NAICS codes to build your industry population.
4. Combine with other filters to narrow further by market cap, revenue, location, or other criteria.

Note

If the industry filter is not available on the search page, you can download the CSV and filter by SIC or NAICS code in the spreadsheet. These fields are included in the download for many databases.

2.2. By market segment

To filter by the size or type of entity, you can use several filters that are available across most databases:

• Market Cap – Filter by a range of market capitalisation values. Most databases offer preset ranges (such as "> £1 billion") or let you set custom ranges
• Revenue – Filter by a range of total revenue
• Market Index – Filter by index membership. For US/SEC databases, this covers indexes like S&P and Russell. For Canadian databases, it includes TSX and TSX Venture. European databases include indexes such as FTSE 100 and DAX 40
• Company Location – The location filter varies by market. For US/SEC databases, you can filter by state, region, or county (where available), by Canadian province, or by country for non-US, non-Canadian entities. Canadian databases filter by Canadian province, US region, or country. European databases filter by country

Some databases also have filters specific to their content. For example, Audit Opinions includes a Going Concern filter to find opinions where the auditor expressed doubt about financial health, and Internal Controls lets you filter by whether internal controls are effective and by specific control weakness taxonomies.

Tip

Check the search guide for the database you're using to see all available filters. Some company attributes (like Filer Status) may not be available as search page filters on every database, but are included in many CSV downloads, where you can filter for them in your spreadsheet.

2.3. By entity type

Ideagen Audit Analytics covers a wide range of entity types beyond publicly traded SEC registrants. For many of these, there are dedicated databases organised by entity type, listed on your dashboard under the following modules:

• Funds + Securities: Includes databases like Mutual Fund Audit Fees and Mutual Fund Reorganisations, with filters tailored to fund data such as Fund Type and Total Investments
• OIA – Financial Services: Covers entity types like Bank Holding Companies (Banks – Annual), Broker-Dealers, Insurance companies, RIAs, and Private Funds. For example, Bank Holding Companies includes a Holding Type filter (Bank, Savings and Loan, Other)
• OIA – Gov + Non-Profit: Includes databases like Non-Profit Single Audit and ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) benefit plans

These databases have their own search pages with identifiers and filters tailored to that entity type.

3. Using peer groups

If you've identified a specific company and want to study similar companies, the Company Profile offers a built-in peer download.

To access peer group data:

1. Go to any company profile page.
2. Select one of the following options:
   • Download that company's peers – companies identified as the entity's peer group
   • Download peers of peers – expanding your population one level further
   • See where the company is listed as a peer – identifying which other companies consider it a comparable

This can be a useful shortcut for building a benchmarking population without manually selecting individual companies.

4. Combining multiple filters

In practice, building a population often involves combining multiple filters. For example, you can search Audit Fees for Big Four auditors, in the Telecommunications industry (NAICS 517), with a market cap over £1 billion by applying those three filters on the same search page.

After running your search, you can:

• Save the search to rerun it later from the Saved Searches tab
• Set up an alert to be notified when new records match your criteria
• Download the CSV for further analysis in Excel, which includes additional fields not shown in the on-screen results (such as identifiers, SIC code, Filer Status, and more)
• Reuse your population across databases – once you've built a population in one database, you can copy the identifiers (CIK codes, tickers, etc.) from the download and paste them into the search field of another database to run the same population against a different dataset

5. Tips for building effective populations

• Start broad, then narrow. If you're not sure how many results to expect, run a search with fewer filters first to see the total count, then add filters to refine
• Use the CSV for additional filtering. The Excel download includes fields that aren't available as search page filters, including fields like Filer Status, exchange, and additional identifiers. You can filter, sort, and pivot in your spreadsheet to build exactly the population you need
• Check the search guide for the specific database you're using. Each database has different filters available, and the search guide explains what each filter does. Search guides are accessible from the Help menu on each database search page
• Be mindful of download limits. Some databases have row limits on CSV downloads. If your results exceed the limit, use filters to narrow your search before downloading