Hi Haikuo, I provided the datadate in the table as follows (only cusip6 of 000360 is shown): FPEDATS cusip6 datadate MEET 31-Mar-03 000360 . 0 30-Jun-03 000360 . 0 30-Sep-03 000360 . 0 31-Dec-03 000360 31-Dec-03 1 31-Mar-04 000360 . 0 30-Jun-04 000360 . 0 30-Sep-04 000360 . 0 31-Dec-04 000360 31-Dec-04 1 31-Dec-04 000360 31-Dec-04 1 31-Mar-05 000360 . 1 30-Jun-05 000360 . 0 30-Sep-05 000360 . 0 31-Dec-05 000360 31-Dec-05 0 31-Dec-05 000360 31-Dec-05 0 31-Mar-06 000360 . 1 30-Jun-06 000360 . 0 30-Sep-06 000360 . 1 31-Dec-06 000360 31-Dec-06 1 31-Mar-07 000360 . 1 30-Jun-07 000360 . 1 30-Sep-07 000360 . 0 31-Dec-07 000360 31-Dec-07 1 31-Mar-08 000360 . 1 30-Jun-08 000360 . 1 30-Sep-08 000360 . 1 31-Dec-08 00360 31-Dec-08 1 31-Mar-09 00360 . 1 30-Jun-09 00360 . 0 30-Sep-09 00360 . 1 31-Dec-09 00360 31-Dec-09 1 31-Mar-10 00360 . 0 30-Jun-10 00360 . 0 30-Sep-10 00360 . 0 31-Dec-10 00360 31-Dec-10 1 31-Mar-11 00360 . 0 30-Jun-11 00360 . 0 30-Sep-11 00360 . 0 31-Dec-11 00360 . 0 FPEDATS of 31MAR2003, 30JUN2003, 30SEP2003 and 31DEC2003 are 4 quarters within the same fiscal year-end of 31DEC2003 (datadate). So, the FREQ = 0+0+0+1 = 1; PERCENT_FREQ = 1/4 = 0.25. The output for your suggested program - all the observations have the same financial year-end which is incorrect. Some firms might not have the same fiscal year-end of 31DEC. If firms with year-end of 30SEP2004, then 31DEC2003, 31MAR2004, 30JUN2004 and 30SEP2004 should be within the same datadate of 30SEP2004.
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