Salem State College Library
Nancy Dennis
Business Reference & Instruction
Librarian
nancy.dennis@salemstate.edu; 978-542-6218
Types
of Corporate Reports
Annual Reports to Shareholders
Formal financial statements published yearly and sent to company
stockholders.
Both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations produce annual reports.
Often used
as a marketing tool.
Reports Filed with the SEC
Annual Report (Form 10-K)
Filed annually by U.S. and Canadian companies trading on U.S.
stock exchanges.
(Foreign companies file a 20-F Report). Contains audited statements
of income and
revenue; financial position and cash flow statement; discussion and analysis
of
financial condition; a description of the company's business strategies
over the past year;
information related to various business segments; a listing of company's
directors
and executive officers; and market price of the company's stock and
dividends paid.
Quarterly Financial Reports (Form 10-Q)
A quarterly, unaudited financial report.
Report of Unscheduled Material Events or Corporate Changes
(Forms 8-K; 10-C)
A report of corporate changes filed as a results of acquisitions; disposition
of
assets; bankruptcy or receivership; or other events. Form 10-C is similar
to Form
8-K for OTC companies.
Proxy Statement
Presents information to investors which will be voted on at annual meetings.
Initial Public Offering Prospectus (Form S-1)
Filed when a company wants to issue an initial public offering. Typically
includes
3 years of annual financial statements.
Understanding
Corporate Reports
Form
Types Used for Electronic Filing on EDGAR
http://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/forms/edgform.htm
Merrill Lynch. Guide to Understanding
Financial Reports
http://philanthropy.ml.com/ipo/resources/pdf/understandingfinancial.pdf
Merrill Lynch. How to Read a Financial
Report
http://philanthropy.ml.com/ipo/resources/pdf/howtoreadfinreport.pdf
Sources of Corporate Reports
Business Databases
LexisNexis
(Off campus
users: connect via the proxy/portal)
Database: Company Financial
Reports. Find under: "Academic Search Forms:
Business."
Gives detailed company financial
reports from Disclosure Reports; NAARS
Annual Reports 1984-1995; NAARS Annual Reports
1972-1984; and Stock
Reports. Extracts business and financial
information from annual and periodic reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for over
10,000
publicly-owned companies.
LexisNexis
(Off campus users: connect
via the proxy/portal)
Database: SEC Filings and
Reports. Find under: "Academic Search Forms: Business."
Provides EDGAR filings, annual
& quarterly reports & proxy statements.
Web sites
Note:
The following web sites also provide annual reports. Though many of
these
sites require registration, the information is free.
Annual Report Gallery
http://www.reportgallery.com/
Reports may be retrieved through 5 search criteria: alphabetically;
by company name;
by ticker symbol; by sector; or by industry. Once a company is found,
it can be
viewed in either HTML or PDF format.
Annual Report Resource Center
(IRIN)
http://www.irin.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?index=main
Investor Relations
Information Network (IRIN) provides a single point of reference
for
accessing more than
13,200 current and historical annual reports.
Annual Report Service
http://www.annualreportservice.com/
Claims
to be the largest supplier of free annual reports on the web.
Carol:
Company Annual Reports Online
http://www.carol.co.uk/
Covers the United Kingdom.
PRARS
(Public Register's Annual Report Service)
http://www.prars.com/
This service lets
you order annual reports free via the web.
SEC
Filings and Forms (EDGAR)
http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file
registration statements, periodic
reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. This includes 10-K's.
Searchable
by company name, back to 1994.
Back to Business Research Homepage
