Blume Library: Company Research: Financial Data

Filings, Reports, and Data

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires publicly-traded companies to report company information. These reports are available online from the SEC's EDGAR database. You will also find these reports in the Nexis Uni database. The following filings are the most commonly used by researchers:

10-K: comprehensive annual review of the company's business activities and a discussion of the company's performance. Includes all financial statements.
20-F: annual financial report of company's headquartered outside the US who sell securities traded in the US
10-Q: quarterly unaudited financial statements issued every quarter except the quarter where the company issues the 10-K
8-K: reports that announces events or important changes, as defined by the SEC
Proxy Statements: include details about executive compensation, described in Schedule 14A

The following sources provide access to SEC filings and other types of company financial data.

EDGAR (SEC)
EDGAR is the US Security and Exchange Commission's database of company registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms. The Quick EDGAR Tutorial gives users an overview of the database contents. Investments researchers will want to use the guide to Researching Public Companies Through EDGAR to get a detailed understanding of how to use EDGAR filings to analyze a company. EDGAR also includes filings on mutual funds and variable insurance products.

Compustat Installation Instructions
Downloadable data including ratio data for US companies. Compustat (Research Insight) is available via the University website but can only be accessed on campus. This document describes how to map your computer drive to access the CD.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Includes local, regional, national, and international newspapers, as well as non-English language news; business information about US and international companies; federal, state, and international legal materials including case law, media transcripts, and more.

Nexis Uni features more than 17,000 news, business, and legal sources—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.

SEDAR
Canadian public companies filings. Includes mutual funds as well as related third parties. Similar to EDGAR search from the US SEC.