Stock Screener · Library
How should the age of a cached financial source be described?
Distinguish the age of a filing, a fact’s period and the retrieval time of the saved source.
There is more than one clock
The period end describes when a fact applies. The filing date describes when its source submission was filed. The retrieval time describes when a copy was obtained. These dates answer different questions and should not be used as substitutes for one another.
A document generated today can contain an old source snapshot. Likewise, a later filing date can describe a comparison with an older period. A recent page date does not establish that the underlying data was refreshed.
Keep an unknown retrieval date unknown
This historical source does not record a verified retrieval timestamp. The reference therefore does not claim a fresh companyfacts download or current completeness. Its exact reported and filed dates remain available even though retrieval time is unknown.
If current information is needed, consult the official source and record that new check separately. Do not use a local file’s modification time or the page build date as an invented source retrieval date.
Source identity example
- Source filer CIK
- 320193
- Company name in the source
- Apple Inc.
- Ticker in the source snapshot
- AAPL
- Verified source retrieval time
- Not recorded