Finding Annual Reports
Public companies are required to file financial disclosure forms, including an annual report, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These SEC filings form the basis of much of the information about these companies that is made available to the public.
Follow the links below to learn more about annual reports and how to find them:
Annual Report Terminology Types of Annual and Quarterly Reports
Description of Annual Report and Form 10-K Annual Reports in Print
Annual Reports in Online Databases Annual Reports on the Web
Annual Report Terminology
Public Company
Private Company
SIC Code
NAICS Code
Selected Types of Annual and Quarterly Reports
Form
Type of Report
ARS
Annual Report to
Shareholders
10-Q
Quarterly report
filed by domestic public company
10-QSB
Optional form for
quarterly report filed by domestic small business issuers
10-K
Annual report filed
by domestic public company
10-KSB
Optional form for
annual report filed by domestic small business issuers
11-K
Annual report of
employee stock purchase, savings, and similar plans
18-K
Annual report of
foreign governments and political subdivisions
20-F
Annual report of
foreign private issuers trading on the U.S. market
40-F
Annual report filed
by certain Canadian issuers
Description of the Annual Report and Form 10-K
The annual report to shareholders is the principal document used by most public
companies to disclose corporate information to their shareholders. It is usually
a state-of-the-company report, including an opening letter from the Chief
Executive Officer, financial data, results of continuing operations, market
segment information, new product plans, subsidiary activities, and research and
development activities on future programs. The Form 10-K, which must be filed
with the SEC, typically contains more detailed information about the company’s
financial condition than the annual report.
This is the report that most publicly traded
companies file with the SEC on an annual basis. It provides a comprehensive
overview of the company's business and financial condition. Some companies
choose to send their Form 10-K to their shareholders instead of sending a
separate annual report. Currently, Form 10-K must be filed with the SEC within
90 days after the end of the company's fiscal year.
Reporting companies must give their shareholders
upon request a copy of the Form 10-K. Companies subject to the new reporting
deadlines also must disclose in its Form 10-K, beginning with reports for fiscal
years ending on or after December 15, 2002, whether the company makes its
periodic and current reports available, free of charge, on its website.
Source:
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:
Form 10-K
Some terms to know when
searching for annual reports:
A public company is a company that
issues securities or shares of stock for purchase by the public. The process of
sale and purchase of securities is regulated by the SEC, and public companies
are required to file a number of financial and other reports with the SEC.
A private company is one that is
owned by an individual, family, or group of partners. The SEC has limited
reporting requirements for private companies; some of the required reporting is
confidential.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes are four-digit codes used to
identify an industry. Many print and online resources use these codes to index
information about companies. The SIC classification system is gradually being
replaced by NAICS; see below.
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) uses six-digit codes
to identify an industry. See the
U.S. Census Bureau’s Correspondence Tables:
1987 SIC Matched to 2002 NAICS for a conversion of SIC to
NAICS.
Below is the SEC’s description
of the annual report:
Source:
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:
Annual Report
Below is the SEC’s description of Form 10-K:
The
library maintains a limited historical collection of print annual reports in the
library’s Reference Room. The collection includes representative reports
for Fortune 500 companies and larger Wisconsin companies. The
collection does not include the most recent reports, includes no more than five
years of reports, and includes very few foreign company reports. If the
library’s collection does not contain the print annual report you are looking
for, consider these options:
Requesting an Annual Report from the Company
Many companies will send a print copy
of their annual report upon request. Locate contact information on the company’s
Web site or use one of the online databases listed below to locate the address.
Finding a PDF Version of the Annual Report on
the Web
Some public companies include a link
to a PDF version of their annual report on their Web site. Typically, the PDF
version of an annual report closely approximates the look of the annual report
when it was published in print format. Look for a PDF link to an annual report
on an Investor or Investor Services page on the company’s Web
site.
Annual Reports in Online Databases
for instructions.ACCESS NOTE: Off-campus access to most online indexes and databases is available to UWSP students and staff through Virtual Private Network (VPN). Click here
Academic Universe
Academic Universe offers business
news journals, company financial information, SEC filings and reports, and
industry and market news.
Academic Universe search tips:
-
Select Business from the left navigation bar, then SEC Filings & Reports (under Company Information).
Search by Company Name, SIC, or Ticker Symbol.
The SEC 10-K report is the annual report filed by the domestic public company with the SEC. This is most often the report you are looking for, unless you are researching a foreign company.
Select SEC 20-F Reports in the Source drop-down menu to search for a foreign company’s report.
Select SEC Annual Reports to Shareholders in the Source drop-down menu to view the document used by many major corporations to communicate directly with their shareholders.
Hoover’s Online
Hoover’s Online
contains a broad spectrum of business information, including information about
company officers, products and operation, the industry, competitors, news,
financials, and SEC filings.
Hoover’s Online
search tips:
-
Enter a company name in the dialog box at the top of the home page and click on Search; click on the name of your company from the research result that appears.
-
Select SEC Filings from the left navigation bar to see all SEC filings in date order. You can re-sort results by date and form type.
-
Select 10-K Filings to see only 10-K annual report filings, with the most recent 10-K reports first.
-
Company address information and a link to the company's Web site appear at the top of the screen. Use this information to request a print report or access a PDF version of the report on the company's Web site.
-
Keep in mind that Hoover’s Online contains only domestic SEC filings.
EDGAR Database of Corporate Information
EDGAR (Electronic Data
Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s
online system that automates collection, validation, indexing, acceptance, and
forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to
file forms with the SEC.
EDGAR search tips:
Select Search for Company Filings from the home page, then Companies & Other Filers to access the EDGAR Company Search.
Search by Company Name, CIK (central index key), State, or SIC.
Once you have selected your company from the search result, enter the form type you need (usually 10-K or 20-F, remembering to include the dash) in the search box at the top left of the screen. This limits your search to annual reports.
Click on the form number of the document you wish to see; a new screen appears with a list of files identified with HTML code.
The file you want to see is usually the first one in the list. Look for 10-K or 20-F in the <TYPE> line; click on the link associated with that file.
NOTE: You can find a link to EDGAR, the SEC’s site for information about publicly traded companies, on the library’s Virtual Reference Desk Business & Economics page.
A limited selection of annual reports is freely available on the Web. Check the sites below for the annual reports of many of the largest and best known public companies in the United States and around the world.
AnnualReports.com
http://www.annualreports.com/
Find annual reports for most of the Fortune 500 companies. Search for annual
reports alphabetically, by company name, by ticker symbol, by sector, or by
industry. Once a company is found, the report can be viewed in either HTML or
PDF format.
aReport.com
http://w3.areport.com/
Direct links to company Web sites to access the
latest annual reports of more than 1,300 of the world’s largest companies.
Search by state, revenues, and country.
Collection of Historical Annual Reports
From the Lippincott Library at the University of Pennsylvania. Provides access
to annual reports in PDF format from U.S. companies and covers the period 1800
through 1955. Reports are continuously added.
Company Annual Reports Online (CAROL) World
http://www.carolworld.com/search.php
Direct access to American and European
companies’ balance sheets, profit and loss statements, financial highlights,
etc. Access is free of charge, but registration is required for access to annual
reports.
Hugin Online
http://www.huginonline.com/
Provides access to financial press releases,
annual reports, financial calendars, and company profiles of European
companies. Geographical coverage includes United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark,
Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Search by company name, browse alphabetical index or industry sector.
The
Investor Relations Information Network (IRIN) Annual Report Resource Center
http://www.irin.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?index=main
Access to more than 11,500 current and historical annual reports for viewing and printing. If hard copy is required, the site will forward your request for a hard copy of an annual report to the company. Site also offers other information about the company, including company statistics and third-party data.
Public Register’s Annual Report Service
(PRARS)
http://www.prars.com/
Provides company financials, including annual
reports, prospectuses, or 10-K reports on over 3,600 public companies.
SEDAR
http://www.sedar.com/homepage_en.htm
System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR); the Canadian
version of the EDGAR.