Annual Report - A yearly record of a public corporation’s financial condition that must be distributed to shareholders under securities and exchange commission regulations. Included in the report is a description of the company’s operations as well as its balance sheet and income statement.
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Company websites often include 3-5 years of annual reports. Even though they are developed for stock holders, they may have a corporate bias since the documents are public facing.
Mergent Online provides an overview of company history, ownership, financials, and includes an impressive historical collection of annual reports.
Step 1. Start at Mergent
Step 2. In the "company search" box, type the company name and click go
Step 3. Click "reports"
Step 4. Select an annual report to view
Mergent Online Help Guide (HTML)
A variety of websites provide access to annual reports:
10-K - Annual report required by the Securities and Exchange Commission of every issuer of a registered security, every exchange-listed company, and any company with 500 or more shareholders or $1 million or more in gross assets. The form provides for disclosure of total sales, revenue, and pretax operating income, as well as sales by separate classes of products for each of a company’s separate lines of business for each of the past five years. A source and application of funds statement presented on a comparative basis for the last two fiscal years is also required. Form 10-K becomes public information when filed with the SEC.
Step 1. Start at LexisNexis
Step 2. In the "get company info" box type the company name and click go
Step 3. Select company
Step 4. Click SEC filings
Step 5. Click "recent SEC filings"
Step 6. In the "narrow results: term" box, type: 10-K
Step 7. Click list view
Step 8. Locate document
Step 9. Click to view 10-K document
Step 1. Start at Mergent
Step 2. In the "company search" box, type the company name and click go
Step 3. Click "reports"
Step 4. Select a 10-K report to view
Mergent Online Help Guide (HTML)
Step 1. Start at the SEC website: www.sec.gov
Step 2. Click "filings"
Step 3. Click "company filings"
Step 4. Select "company or fund name, ticker symbol, CIK (Central Index Key), file number, state, country, or SIC"
Step 5. Type company name
Step 6. Select company
Step 7. In the "filing type" box, type: 10-K
Step 8 Click document to view 10-K
Annual Report | 10-K | |
General Information |
|
|
SEC filing ? |
Not an SEC filing |
Official SEC filing |
Available via... |
Online, company website |
SEC or company information database such as Mergent or LexisNexis |
Document type | Marketing piece | Official document required by securities and exchange commission regulations |
Length | Short version | Long version |
Contains | Basic overview | Detailed information such as risk factors, legal proceedings and management compensation |
AKA | "Glossy" | |
Description | Colorful pictures, nice glossy pages, visually appealing | Black and white, no color pictures |
Purpose | Motivate investors, marketing piece |
Required by SEC, significant to the investor |