diff --git a/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/models/cik_map.py b/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/models/cik_map.py
index ba2fccbbe34..3fa9d31d169 100644
--- a/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/models/cik_map.py
+++ b/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/models/cik_map.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from typing import Any
 
 from openbb_core.provider.abstract.fetcher import Fetcher
+from openbb_core.app.model.abstract.error import OpenBBError
 from openbb_core.provider.standard_models.cik_map import CikMapData, CikMapQueryParams
 from pydantic import Field
 
@@ -48,10 +49,10 @@ class SecCikMapFetcher(
         # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
         from openbb_sec.utils.helpers import symbol_map
 
-        results = {"cik": await symbol_map(query.symbol, query.use_cache)}
-        if not results:
-            return {"Error": "Symbol not found."}
-        return results
+        cik = await symbol_map(query.symbol, query.use_cache)
+        if not cik:
+            raise OpenBBError(f"Symbol '{query.symbol}' not found in SEC database.")
+        return {"cik": cik}
 
     @staticmethod
     def transform_data(
diff --git a/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/utils/helpers.py b/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/utils/helpers.py
index 909be677ae4..3d75c59b2e8 100644
--- a/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/utils/helpers.py
+++ b/openbb_platform/providers/sec/openbb_sec/utils/helpers.py
@@ -49,8 +49,17 @@ async def get_all_companies(use_cache: bool = True) -> DataFrame:
     else:
         response = await amake_request(url, headers=SEC_HEADERS)  # type: ignore
 
-    df = DataFrame(response).transpose()
+    if not response or not isinstance(response, dict):
+        raise OpenBBError(
+            "Empty or invalid response from SEC company tickers endpoint."
+        )
+
+    df = DataFrame.from_dict(response, orient="index")
     cols = ["cik", "symbol", "name"]
+    if len(df.columns) != len(cols):
+        raise OpenBBError(
+            f"Unexpected SEC response format. Expected {len(cols)} fields, got {len(df.columns)}: {df.columns.tolist()}"
+        )
     df.columns = cols
     return df.astype(str)