FactSet Research Systems (FDS) Risk Factor Changes

Cyber-attacks continue to evolve in sophistication, frequency and volume, including as threat actors exploit generative and agentic AI to discover and exploit vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed and scale, and may…

We may be unable to secure data center capacity, power and computing resources on acceptable terms to meet our future needs

Our business, and in particular our growth and our increasing use of AI, depends on access to data center capacity, power and computing resources, including specialized hardware, whether provided through our own facil…

the scaling of our business for future growth, and the accurate maintenance of our data and operations.

design, deploy and operate common, globally consistent AI systems, products and controls, and may require us to develop jurisdiction-specific approaches, restrict or delay the availability of certain AI capabilities i…

AI technologies used in our products and processes may use or incorporate data from third-party sources, including information they input into the AI tools, which may expose us to risks associated with data rights and…

Inadequate or inconsistent governance of our internal use of AI could expose us to security, operational, legal and reputational risks

We are rapidly expanding the use of AI technologies, including generative and agentic AI, across our products, internal systems and business processes.

The introduction of agentic AI, which can take autonomous actions across systems, may create new attack surfaces and novel security vulnerabilities that our existing controls were not designed to address.

We are undergoing significant organizational change and transformation, and our failure to execute these initiatives effectively could disrupt our business and adversely affect our results

We are undertaking a number of significant organizational, operational and strategic transformation initiatives, including changes to our organizational structure, reporting lines, leadership, product development orga…

Transformation of this scale may also adversely affect employee morale, engagement and retention, including the potential loss of personnel with critical institutional or technical knowledge, and may strain our culture.

Advances in AI may enable our clients and other third parties to build their own solutions and may reduce demand for our products and services

A significant portion of the value we provide derives from the interfaces, applications, workflows, analytics and connectivity through which we deliver data and functionality to our clients.

If clients choose to build or adopt such alternatives, they may reduce or discontinue their use of our products and services, or pressure us to change our pricing or the way we package and deliver our offerings.

were ultimately favorable, such a claim would require the time and attention of our management, personnel, as well as financial and other resources and potentially pose a significant disruption to our normal business…

We depend on third-party vendors, partners and service providers, and disruptions to or failures by these third parties could adversely affect our business

We rely on third-party vendors, partners and service providers for a range of critical functions, including cloud hosting and infrastructure, data and content, software, connectivity, and certain operational and busin…

Key management transitions, such as the transition of our Chief Executive Officer in 2025, involve inherent risk, and such transition periods can be disruptive and may result in a loss of personnel with deep instituti…

We are party to various legal proceedings, claims, and litigation in the normal course of our business and from time to time the subject of government and regulatory proceedings, investigations, and inquiries, as disc…

Any proceedings, litigation, claims, investigations or inquiries impose additional expenses on the Company, require the attention of senior management, and could ultimately result in adverse judgments, damages, fines,…

Changes in tax laws and other tax-related risks could adversely affect our financial results

We are subject to income and other taxes in the United States and various foreign jurisdictions.

tax authorities.

Our effective tax rate may be affected by changes in the geographic mix of earnings and our ability to realize tax benefits.

planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate, and placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our peers.

Cyber-security risks also may be derived from fraud or malice on the part of our employees or third-party service providers, or may result from human error, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware fai…

While we have dedicated resources responsible for maintaining appropriate levels of cybersecurity, and implemented systems and processes intended to help identify cyberattacks and protect and remediate our network inf…

is a risk that our internal procedures controlling the use of open source code could fail, or that the licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on us.

AI technologies used in our products and processes may use or incorporate data from third-party sources, including information they input into the AI tools, which may expose us to risks associated with data rights and…

A decline in equity and/or fixed income returns may impact the buying power of investment management clients

Volatility or downturns in the financial markets may delay the spending pattern of clients and reduce future ASV growth

Increased accessibility to free or relatively inexpensive information sources may reduce demand for our products and services

Each year, an increasing amount of free or relatively inexpensive information becomes available, particularly through the internet, and this trend is likely to continue, especially with the deployment of AI tools.

We are party to lawsuits in the normal course of our business, including a purported class action relating to our acquisition, and operation of, the CGS business (Dinosaur Financial Group LLC et al.

Additional cost due to tax assessments resulting from ongoing and future audits by tax authorities as well as changes in tax laws

In the ordinary course of business, we are subject to changes in tax laws as well as tax examinations by various governmental tax authorities.

For example, during August 2019 through February 2024, we received various assessment and audit notices from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Revenue with respect to sales taxes, interest and underpayme…

Changes in tax laws or the terms of tax treaties in a jurisdiction where we are subject to tax could have an impact on our taxes payable.

Unauthorized access to confidential data including client data, other cyber-attacks, and the failure of our cybersecurity systems and procedures

Our size, scale and role in the financial markets increase our exposure to cyber-attacks and other cybersecurity risks.

We also make acquisitions periodically, and we may inherit cybersecurity risks when these acquisitions are integrated into our infrastructure.

We make a range of commitments to our clients regarding our security practices and posture, and if we do not adequately implement and enforce them, we could be in violation of those commitments.

We currently use multiple providers of cloud services; however, one supplier provides the majority of our cloud computing support.

We maintain back-up facilities and certain other redundancies for each of our data centers to minimize the risk that any event will disrupt those operations, but if we were to suffer such an event it may mean we are u…

The technology landscape is constantly evolving.

We use open source code in our software development and incorporate it into our products and internal systems.

We use, and are expanding our use of, machine learning and AI technologies in our products and processes.

The introduction of AI technologies, particularly generative and agentic AI, into new or existing offerings may result in new or expanded risks and liabilities, due to enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, lit…

We continue to experience intense competition across all of our products and services, with competitors ranging in size from smaller, highly specialized, single-product businesses to multi-billion-dollar companies.

The predominant investment strategy today is no longer active investing, which attempts to outperform the market through informed decision-making.

Uncertainty, downturns or volatility in the global economy and consolidation in the financial services industry may cause us to lose clients and users, or could reduce further growth

Errors or defects can exist at any point in a product's life cycle, but are more frequently found after the introduction of new products or enhancements to existing products.

Clients are increasingly looking to pass on contractual obligations to us, which may include service level, information and cybersecurity requirements and audit rights.

We have historically pursued, and expect to continue to pursue, acquisitions and other strategic transactions as part of our growth strategy, although the level of such activity varies from period to period and may be…

Our ability to attract and retain clients and employees is affected by external perceptions of our brand and reputation.

Increased scrutiny with respect to environmental, social and governance matters

New laws, regulations, policies, and international agreements relating to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters are being developed and formalized in Europe and elsewhere globally, which requires us to…

In fiscal 2026, approximately 39% of our revenues related to operations located outside the U.S.

are unsuccessful in our recruiting efforts, or if we are unable to retain key employees or offer competitive compensation and benefit packages and career structures, or if we are unable to navigate key management tran…

As previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2024, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the design and operati…

From time to time, we receive client complaints.

Due to the global nature of our operations, we are exposed to market risk arising from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, particularly in our primary currency exposures, namely the British Pound Sterling…

We provide public, full-year financial guidance based upon assumptions regarding our expected financial performance.

Our indebtedness could have important consequences for our business, including making it more difficult to satisfy our obligations, increasing our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions, lim…

Our ability to meet our payment and other obligations under our debt depends on our ability to generate sufficient cash flow in the future.

Our costs and the demand for our products and services may be impacted by domestic and international factors that are beyond our control.

Economic, political and other forces beyond our control could adversely affect our business.

We provide public, full-year financial guidance based upon assumptions regarding our expected financial performance, including our ability to grow revenues and Organic ASV, to meet our planned expenses and maintain a…

Due to the global nature of our operations, we are exposed to market risk arising from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, particularly in our primary currency exposures, namely the British Pound Sterling…

We are party to lawsuits in the normal course of our business, including a purported class action relating to our acquisition, and operation of, the CGS business (Dinosaur Financial Group LLC et al.

Inability to hire and retain key qualified personnel or navigate key management transitions

Each year, an increasing amount of free or relatively inexpensive information becomes available, particularly through the internet, and this trend is likely to continue, especially with the deployment of AI tools.

We collect and aggregate third-party content from data suppliers, news sources, exchanges, brokers and contributors into our own dedicated managed databases, which clients access to perform their analyses.

Failure to enter into, renew or comply with contracts supplying new and existing content sets or products on competitive terms

In fiscal 2025, approximately 39% of our revenues related to operations located outside the U.S.

Operations outside the U.S.

In fiscal 2025, we completed several corporate transactions, including the acquisition of Irwin, LiquidityBook and LogoIntern.

Clients are increasingly looking to pass on contractual obligations to us, which may include service level, information and cyber-security requirements and audit rights.

The market for our products is characterized by rapid technological change, including developing technologies such as AI, including agentic AI, methods and speed of delivery, changes in client demands, development of…

Failure to develop and market new products and enhancements that maintain our technological and competitive position and failure to anticipate and respond to changes in the marketplace for our products and client demands

We continue to experience intense competition across all of our products and services, with competitors ranging in size from smaller, highly specialized, single-product businesses to multi-billion-dollar companies.

Competition in our industry may cause price reductions or loss of market share, or limit our growth or profitability

The introduction of AI technologies, particularly generative and agentic AI, into new or existing offerings may result in new or expanded risks and liabilities, due to enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, lit…

We use, and are expanding our use of, machine learning and AI technologies in our products and processes.

Our use of AI technologies may not be successful and may present business, compliance, and reputational risks

We use open source code in our software development and incorporate it into our products and internal systems.

The technology landscape is constantly evolving.

Transition to new technologies, applications and processes could expose us to unanticipated disruptions or impacts

We are currently implementing a multi-year project to enhance our information technology disaster recovery processes with modernized tooling and automation to maximize resiliency and minimize recovery time in the even…

Our computer operations, as well as our other business centers, and those of our suppliers and clients, may be vulnerable to interruption by fire, natural disaster, public health crisis (e.g., pandemics), extreme weat…

A prolonged or recurring outage and other business continuity disruptions could result in a reduced or total loss of service; the loss of clients and adverse impact on our reputation

We make a range of commitments to our clients regarding our security practices, processes and security posture.

Unauthorized access to confidential data including client data, other cyber-attacks, and the failure of our cyber-security systems and procedures

To mitigate this exposure, on March 1, 2022, we entered into an interest rate swap agreement to hedge the variable interest rate obligation on a portion of our outstanding balance under the 2022 Credit Facilities.

The 2022 Credit Agreement provides that (i) loans denominated in U.S.

Certain of our borrowings and other obligations are based upon variable rates of interest, which could result in higher expense in the event of increases in interest rates

In addition, the 2022 Credit Agreement requires us to maintain specified financial ratios and satisfy certain financial condition tests.

The 2022 Credit Agreement contains, and our future debt instruments may contain, various provisions that limit our ability to, among other things: incur liens; incur additional indebtedness, guarantees or other contin…

The restrictive covenants in our debt may affect our ability to operate our business successfully