Corporate Reports at Dewey Library

Locating Reports by Type and/or Date

Use the tables below on this page to determine which sources in the Dewey Corporate Reports Collection contain the types and dates of reports you are seeking. Then, click on the name of a source to read more about accessing it and determining whether your particular company's report is included in that source.

Introduction - Annual Reports - 10-K Filings – Extracted Financials – 20-F Filings – Proxy Statements – Prospectuses & Registration Statements - Other SEC Filings

Introduction

Publicly-held companies with stock traded on U.S. exchanges publish annual reports and submit filings to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Annual Reports (also known as Annual Reports to Shareholders, or "Glossy" Annual Reports) are published for the benefit of shareholders and are not required by the SEC although they typically include financial information. SEC filings are required by law and are considered the most definitive and complete source of essential company information, requiring companies to disclose specific details of securities offerings and operations. Various filings are required of companies depending on the information they are required to disclose. One such SEC filing, Form 10-K, is required annually from US public companies and contains extended financials and other details about company operations. Other filings included in our collection may provide further details about a company or provide financials for years where no annual report or 10-K filing is available. Several sources in our collection are produced by third party publishers based on financials extracted from SEC filings.

Please note: Access to CD-ROM products is available only to current MIT users and others with library borrowing priveleges, including Privelege Card holders, BLC members, and other select special user categories.

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Annual Reports to Shareholders ("Glossy" Annual Reports)

Annual Reports are sent to shareholders each year and contain descriptive and financial information about the state of the company. While the financial information in annual reports is audited, the narrative portions are not. Thus, annual reports may also be used by companies as public relations tools and as a means for communicating company operations in a positive light.

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10-K Filings

Form 10-K filings are submitted annually by United States and Canadian companies trading on U.S. stock exchanges (foreign companies file a Form 20-F). These reports contain detailed descriptions of the business, major properties, financial data, brief descriptions of the competition, distribution, crucial commodities, and legal proceedings; and sometimes voluminous supplemental financial statements and legal documents. Balance sheets, income statements, management discussions, and financial footnotes may be at the end of the report or in a separate 10-K/A (amendment). Late filings are numbered 10-K 405.

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Extracted Financials (from Annual Reports and SEC filings)

Several sources published by third parties include financials extracted from annual reports and SEC filings. These sources may add additional analyses or information to this extracted information to create a useful "report" which doesn't originate from the company itself. Some of these sources, such as Compustat and Worldscope, are well-suited for efficiently harvesting historical financial data. Note: these sources do not include "as-reported" financial data or Notes to Financial Statements (as provided by the reporting company).

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20-F Filings

Form 20-F filings often contain a foreign company's annual report with financials. Form 20-F is required from foreign companies (non-US and non-Canadian) whose securities are traded in the US.

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Proxy Statements

Proxy Statements present information to investors which will be voted on at shareholders' meetings. This same information may sometimes be found in section III of a 10-K filing.

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Prospectuses & Registration Statements

When a company wants to issue an initial public offering (IPO) and sell stock on one of the exchanges, they must file Prospectuses and/or Registration Statements. These statements must contain recent years' financial statements as well as other information similar in scope to that found in 10-Ks.

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Other SEC Filings

Aside from 10-Ks and 20-Fs, other SEC filings may contain significant information. Examples include 10-Qs (quarterly unaudited financial reports), 8-Ks (reports of unscheduled events or corporate changes which are filed as specific events such as acquisition or disposition of assets, bankruptcy or receivership, or other events occur), and others. Click on a Source name to view a description of that source and the SEC filings which it includes.

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This page was last updated on 04/04/08