SEC Filings came into existence, not surprisingly, after the stock market crash of 1929. At this time, many investors wanted the government to provide safeguards against companies that engaged in speculative behavior so that their actions would be more transparent. The result was the creation of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC not only requires publicly traded companies to submit these filings, but they also review the filings carefully to make sure they meet certain objective criteria. This means that investors should be able to get an apples-to-apples comparison of two companies filing documents, particularly if they are in the same sector.