Locating Annual Reports for Public Companies
Annual reports are published by publicly-traded companies to educate current and potential stockholders about company activities and performance. They contain discussions of the previous year's activities, plans for the coming year(s), and financial data. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that companies distribute annual reports to their shareholders. Annual Reports are not required to be filed with the SEC but occasionally companies do file them. A comparable SEC filing would be the 10K report (annual financial filing).
Note: SEC filings such as 10Ks, 8Ks, Proxy Statements and Prospectuses are also available for the indicated dates of coverage from several of the sources listed below as well as within the SEC Edgar Database Unrestricted site 1993 to current. Descriptions of SEC Forms gives descriptions of many of the more common filings filed with the SEC.
Annual Reports on Foreign Companies: Foreign annual reports may be found in each of the following sources, depending on the company. Many are available from Mergent Online and Thomson Research (1997 to current) including foreign companies that are not traded on U.S. stock exchanges. Others may be found on microfiche in the library's International Annual Reports and Microfiche D collections (1986 to 1991). For help with the microfiche collections, inquire with Jeannette Moss at j-moss@northwestern.edu or 847-491-2169.
| Source of Reports | How to Access | Date Coverage | Report Format(s) Available |
Mergent
Online  |
Type in the company name and select "Annual Reports". |
1997 to current | PDF / Image |
| Thomson
Research |
Type in the company name and click on "Complete Filings History" to view list of current and older ARS (Annual Reports to Shareholders) |
1997 to current | PDF / Image |
Disclosure Select available at Reference Desk |
Ask for most current CD-ROM at Reference Desk. Use at standalone workstation #16. Current CD will identify older CD containing the desired annual report. Ask for this CD by its ID number at the Reference Desk. |
1995 to 1999 | PDF / Image |
| Academic
Universe (Lexis Nexis) |
Click on "Business" and then on "SEC Filings and Reports". Under "Source" select "SEC Annual Reports" |
Depends on company, often late-nineties to current. | Text only, no graphics |
| Print Annual Reports Collection Main Library stacks on 4th floor, north tower. | Access NUcat, the online catalog. Annual reports are searched by company name as author and "Annual Report" as title. On the main search page, type in the company name and under the "Search in" menu select "Author Title Heading". You may also use the NUcat guided search and combine an author search with a title search. Identify call number and locate in main library, 4th floor, north tower. |
Depends on company, from early 20th century to current. | Actual hard copy of report |
| Disclosure Microfiche Collection Main Library Lower Level |
|
1968 to 1995, depending on company | Fiche image of actual report |
| Annual Report Gallery | Includes over 2,000 companies and a majority in the Fortune 500 | Depends on company, links directly to company's own website | Varies |
Last updated: 04/14/08
