I’m trying to figure out how to fix some error messages in R while using edgar package to download filings by following this post.

Code:

ua <- "Name [email protected]" #declare user-agent

business_desc <- getBusinDescr(cik.no = 
                                 c(12345, 123456, 1234567), #cik examples
                               filing.year = c(2010, 2011), ua
)

Error message:

Error in getBusinDescr(cik.no = c(12345, 123456, 123456,  : 
  unused argument (ua)

It seems that the user-agent argument is no longer supported in getBusinDescr

In addition, when I did not include the user-agent into the code, I got another error message,

No filing information found for given CIK(s) and Form Type in the mentioned year(s)/quarter(s). No annual statements found for given CIK(s) and year(s).

After checking some other posts, I tried to set the user-agent and re-run the code again,

request("www.sec.gov") |> 
  req_user_agent("Name [email protected]") |>
  req_perform()

business_desc <- getBusinDescr(cik.no = 
                                 c(12345, 123456, 1234567), #cik examples
                               filing.year = c(2010, 2011)
)

However, it did not work.

References: This is the requirements from the SEC (link)

Please declare your user agent in request headers:

Sample Declared Bot Request Headers:

• User-Agent:Sample Company Name AdminContact@<sample company domain>.com

• Accept-Encoding:gzip, deflate

• Host:www.sec.gov