Company Financial Reports
Finding Company and Industry Information

Print Sources Electronic Sources

Because of legal requirements to disclose financial data and other information affecting shareholders, annual reports and 10-K reports for publicly held corporations provide a wealth of information. By examining a company's financial reports and analyzing the figures in relationship to one another in the form of ratios, the strengths and weaknesses of the company are revealed. Major print sources can provide this financial data but may be 3-6 months out of date. Electronic sources, including the company's website, can provide more up-to-date information for your research needs and may be downloaded for easier data manipulation. Older financial information about a company may be found in older issues of the print sources or from Annual Reports and 10-K's on microfiche in the Microform and Media Room.

Print Sources

Major Print Sources:

Mergent's/Moody's Manuals	A multivolume set covering companies listed on U.S. stock exchange in a variety of business areas. Information for each company includes brief corporate history, subsidiaries, comparative income statements, balance sheet statistics and outstanding securities. Volumes include: Bank and Finance, Industrial, OTC Industrial, OTC Unlisted, Public Utility and Transportation.	Reference Area 332's (Ask for assistance at the Reference Desk)
Standard and Poor's Corp. Standard Corporation Records	Similar in content and scope to Moody's/Mergent's Manuals but in alphabetical order sequence, the seven-volume set has both a financial and a narrative profile of publicly owned U.S. companies including balance sheet and income statement.	Reference Desk 332.05 S785s

Print Sources Electronic Sources Top of Page

Electronic sources

Disclosure Reports S.E.C. Filings

Disclosure Reports

Each Disclosure report is generated from the company's annual report, 10-K report, prospectus, proxy statement and quarterly report. It also may contain the company's management's letter to shareholders, usually written by the chairman or chief executive officer. This letter may contain industry evaluation, market share, marketing strategy and competitor listings. To obtain a recent Disclosure Report, select Academic - LexisNexis (formerly Academic Universe) from the A-Z List of Indexes and Databases. On the initial screen, select the "Business" link:

This will bring up the Business search screen. Type in the name of your company you are researching. In "Select Sources," uncheck "U.S. Company Reports" and check "Disclosure(R) Online Database-US Public Company Profiles." In the "Specify Date" drop down menu, select "Previous year". Click the "Search" button:

If you do not receive any satisfactory results try going back further than one year in the "Date" field.

S.E.C. FILINGS

Many electronic databases provide U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, filed by a public company. These filings are made available by the SEC on the Web. To do so, select EDGAR from the A-Z List of Indexes and Databases. Once you get into EDGAR (see below), select "Search for Company Filings":

Select "Companies & Other Filers":

On the Company Search screen, enter the name of the company you are looking for and click the "Find Companies" button:

If you are not sure what type of report you want, here is a brief summary of the contents of each report:

• SEC 8-K Reports: Report of unscheduled events or corporate changes deemed of importance to shareholders or to the SEC.
• SEC 10-K Reports: Annual reports filed 90 days after the end of a company's fiscal year.
• SEC 10-Q Reports: Quarterly report filed for each of the first three quarters of a company's fiscal year.
• SEC 20-F Reports: Filed annually by most foreign issuers six months after the end of their fiscal year.
• SEC Annual Reports to Shareholders: The principal document used by major corporations to communicate directly with their shareholders. Be aware that not all companies issue Annual Reports.
• SEC Filings - Prospectuses: A document that must be made available to investors before the sale of any security is initiated.
• SEC Filings - Proxy Statements: Proxy statements provide official notification to shareholders of matters to be voted on at the company's annual meeting.
• SEC Filings - Registration Statements: These are used to register a security before it is offered to investors and to permit trading among investors.
• SEC Filings - Williams Acts Filings: Forms which are submitted to provide disclosure for the purchase, by direct acquisition or tender offer, of substantial securities blocks of publicly held companies.

 

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