[Nicholas_C]

Getting SEC filing data is an absolute nightmare. Every time I think of a project that includes SEC filing data (Executive names/ages, MD&A text analysis, etc.) I skip it and move on to something that's just as interesting but less time consuming and more doable. There doesn't appear to be a scalable solution.

[Animats]

What's the problem finding executive names and ages? Get the SEC index for a CIK, pull the latest DEF 14A form[1], and start parsing the tables. Build a 2D data structure for each table. Look for tables that have column headings including "Name" and "Age". Then back up from the start of the table to the previous heading that's not associated with a previous table, and look for keywords in the heading such as "Director(s)" or "Executives".

It's tougher when the filer tries to be cool and doesn't use tables for tabular data.[2] Then you have to figure out which <div> items are line breaks and which aren't. Fortunately, the SEC doesn't let you put Javascript or off-site CSS in a filing; it all has to be in one document.

Yes, dumb scraping techniques like looking for CSS class names won't help, but it's not really that hard.

[1] http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/0001308179140... [2] http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/0001326801140...

[readme]

You just justified the existence of OP's API with your explanation.

[Animats]

Their system isn't capable of extracting complex info such as executive names and ages, which is what the requestor wanted. The API only does the easy stuff, returning fields from XML.

Edgar Online was sort of a data troll. They bought FreeEdgar to make them go away. After the SEC put up their own search engine, Edgar Online was mostly unnecessary, and it was sold to RR Donnelly. There's also "secinfo.com", which someone runs as a spare-time activity and does about as much as Edgar Online. There's no need for a pay service to get this free data.