Release
May 11, 2021

Data Enhancement: Depreciation and Amortization in Fundamentals Data

IEX Cloud worked with New Constructs to make a seemingly small but important update to how it reports on depreciation and amortization.

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IEX Cloud Team

https://iexcloud.io/community/blog/data-enhancement-depreciation-and-amortization-in-fundamentals-data
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https://iexcloud.io/community/blog/data-enhancement-depreciation-and-amortization-in-fundamentals-data
@iexcloud

IEX Cloud worked with New Constructs to make a seemingly small but important update to how it reports on depreciation and amortization.

Ask anyone that works closely with data – details matter. What feels like a minor approximation can alter the entirety of your analysis. This makes it worthwhile to source your data from experts that take the time to manage and evaluate exactly how every datapoint is calculated.

That's why IEX Cloud partners with data sources like New Constructs – an industry expert recognized in studies by Harvard and MIT for its exceptionally careful attention to detail with fundamentals data. (Not to mention – the full process of sourcing and putting data into a usable format is no simple task, which you can learn more about here.)

This past week, IEX Cloud worked with New Constructs to update how it reports on depreciation and amortization. And since it’s all about the details, we put together this quick summary to tell you what changed.

How depreciation and amortization were previously reported

IEX Cloud customers can access fundamentals data from New Constructs through several fundamentals endpoints – the most robust and powerful being the Advanced Fundamentals endpoint.

One datapoint that's included as a part of cash flow reporting is a total summation of depreciation and amortization – labeled depreciationAndAmortizationCashFlow.

The nuance with this datapoint is that many companies, such as Microsoft (MSFT), report on this value as “Depreciation, Amortization, and Other” – that “other” can be open-ended, posing the question about what in fact is the true value of the depreciation and amortization, versus how much of that value comes from “other.”

As a result, for companies such as MSFT where the datapoint was unclear, that value was reported as zero – the logic being to abstain from reporting rather than report incorrectly.

What we changed

This is where it’s valuable to have data experts in your pipeline that pay attention to details – and a fantastic community that shares great feedback.

With input from IEX Cloud customers, New Constructs revisited this field. Its team performed a deep review of over 500 filings from 105 companies where this datapoint had been set to zero. From there, it determined depreciation and amortization data for 58 of those companies (the other 47 were either REITs, incorrectly filed, or had some other reason where it did not make sense to report a value).

In the depreciationAndAmortizationCashFlow field on Advanced Fundamentals, you’ll now find updated depreciation and amortization data for nine additional companies in the current period (including MSFT) and 58 additional companies in total across all periods.

Use fundamentals data from New Constructs in your workflow

Fundamental analysis can be powerful – especially when armed with data meticulously reviewed by New Constructs! We offer that data in the following places:

If you’re new to fundamentals data, start with our recent tutorial where our very own Tim Baker, CFA and Head of IEX Cloud, talks through the basic concepts of fundamental analysis in Excel.

You can also download his free Excel templates that he built on his free time for fundamental analysis – both single company analysis and comparison of companies.

Watch tutorial and download templates



Have additional feedback? Be sure to share it with our team at support@iexcloud.io. We look forward to continuing to improve and enhance your experience on IEX Cloud!