Annual census report for registered investment companies (Form N-CEN)

The facts

Who files

Every management investment company and every unit investment trust registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940; the SEC's own dataset description extends this to every registered investment company other than a face-amount certificate company. Source

How often

At least every twelve months. Source

Deadline

A management investment company must file not more than 75 calendar days after the close of its fiscal year; a unit investment trust must file not more than 75 calendar days after the close of the calendar year. Source

Format

XML. Filed electronically on EDGAR as a structured XML submission; the SEC's data-set page describes Form N-CEN data as 'extracted from N-CEN eXtensible Markup Language (XML) submissions'. Source

How it is filed

Filing routes recorded for the SEC: EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval); Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) and Private Fund Reporting Depository (PFRD); Central Registration Depository (CRD). See how firms file with the SEC.

Status

In force

Legal basis

• 17 CFR 270.30a-1 (Annual report for registered investment companies)

Group

Registered funds

Templates (0)

The library lists no templates for this return.

Form N-CEN's items are conditional on the registrant's type (open-end fund, closed-end fund, exchange-traded fund, unit investment trust and so on), rather than organised as a fixed, named set of schedules, so no breakdown is given here. Source

Validation rules

No published validation rules were found for this return. No published catalogue of Form N-CEN edit checks was found on sec.gov. Source

Public data

Published firm by firm. The SEC publishes Form N-CEN data sets quarterly, as flat files, running from September 2018 to the present; the same disclaimer about possible extraction errors applies as for Form N-PORT. Source

Where it is published (XML (zip))

• Form N-CEN Data Sets

  Firm by firm · XML (zip)

  Every registered investment company's annual census report data, extracted from the structured XML filings, in quarterly ZIP files from September 2018 to the present. Source

Official documents (4)

The SEC's own files, with the size and SHA-256 fingerprint of each as downloaded on 13 November 2026, so anyone can tell whether a copy is the same version.

• Form N-CEN (reference copy)

  Template · PDF · 382.7 KB · 20 February 2026

  Reference copy only, size and hash recorded.

  SHA-256 515949a40455show in fullhide

  515949a404552fcacf218aa8e16b0dc8bc0167f77acb68a4ab151b5fd7f2f659
• Form N-CEN Data Sets readme

  Data dictionary · PDF · 1.6 MB · 2 June 2023

  Size and hash recorded only; not read as text.

  SHA-256 91e155e5589bshow in fullhide

  91e155e5589b0076c49828fe71e8cce5f67be1e6d4c4d75b84ad648d27301324
• Form N-CEN Data Sets

  Data dictionary · HTML · 30 September 2026

  Quarterly ZIP downloads from September 2018 to September 2026, with the who-files text and disclaimer.

• SEC Adopts Reporting Enhancements for Registered Investment Companies and Provides Guidance on Open-End Fund Liquidity Risk Management Programs

  Release note · HTML · 28 August 2024

  Announces the move of Form N-PORT to true monthly filing (30 days after month-end) and monthly public dissemination (60 days after month-end), effective November 17, 2025 generally and May 18, 2026 for fund groups under $1 billion in net assets; also the Form N-CEN liquidity-risk-management service-provider items.

Sources

Every page and document this return's facts were read from.

• sec.gov/data-research/sec-markets-data/form-n-cen-data-sets
• sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-110
• govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2025-title17-vol5/html/CFR-2025-title17-vol5.htm
• sec.gov/submit-filings/forms-index

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