Business 

10-K Reports: Comprehensive annual reports filed 90 days after a company's fiscal year ends.

10-Q Reports: Quarterly updates filed for each of the first three fiscal quarters.

8-K Reports: A report of unscheduled material events or corporate changes deemed of importance to shareholders or to the SEC.  Provides more current details on certain events than the 10-K or 10-Q reports. Generally must be filed within 15 days of the specified event. 

20-F Reports: Annual report/registration statement filed by most foreign issuers of securities traded in the U.S.  Must be filed six months after the fiscal year ends.

Proxy Statements: Official notification to a company's shareholders of matters to be voted upon at the company's annual meeting. Includes some salary and biographical information for top executives (salaries are higher in actuality).

Prospectus: A document that must be made available to investors before the sale of any security is initiated.

Registration Statements: These are used to register securities before they are offered to investors and to permit trading among investors.

Williams Act Filings: Forms which are submitted to provide disclosure for the purchase, by direct acquisition or tender offer, of substantial blocks of the securities of publicly held companies.

Need Others? Contact the Business Librarian for a complete list of filings.

Publicly traded companies (those which sell stock) must provide financial data and other information to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) periodically.  As of November 4, 2002, foreign companies and foreign governments have been required to file their documents on EDGAR.

The SEC's EDGAR filings are publicly available and serve as the basis for the financial data in many print and electronic library sources.  

SEC Filings & Forms (EDGAR)
Free access to SEC's EDGAR filings since 1993

Company Databases That Include SEC (EDGAR) Filings:

Mergent Online

Lexis-Nexis Academic

Major corporations use these attractive, annual, public relations documents to communicate directly with their shareholders.

Reports offer insight on their mission, lines of business, products, growth, productivity, stability, performance, strengths, corporate structure, and management climate. They provide obscure information that is unavailable elsewhere.

Sources for Obtaining Annual Reports to Shareholders

• Mergent Online
  Provides the most recently available annual reports for international and U.S. companies in full-image online. Search by company and select the tab for annual reports.
  
  
• Individual companies
  Check a company's website (e.g. Investor Relations links) or request a copy. Often a company will provide one for free.
  
  
• PRARS (Public Register's Annual Report Service)
  free reports mailed within one business day
  

Older Annual Reports

View historical annual reports, under the SEC files and Q files, on microfilm through the Audio-Visual Department. Check the accompanying index in that department for coverage, beginning with the 1980s.  Allow time for delivery of film from the storage facility.

SEC files and Q files
Micro-fiche C no. 296