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Company Financial Statements
Company financial statements usually refer to publicly-traded companies’ “balance sheets,” “income statements,” and “cash flow statements.” In the United States, these statements are provided in a company’s Annual Report to Shareholders and in the 10-K and 10-Q filings required by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Company financial statements are widely available. Many companies make their annual reports available through their Web sites. Library databases and Web sites also offer this information, often in an enhanced format. Below are two internet resources for accessing annual reports:
- Annual Report ServiceRequires registration.
Reference Databases
- Mergent Market Atlas This link opens in a new window
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- What's included? Corporate information covering over 50,000 US and foreign public companies, current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, annual reports, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, long-term debt, capital stock, and insider trading.
- Mergent Corporate Manuals (Mergent Archives) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? Access to Mergent and Moody's Corporate Manuals.
- What dates are covered? 1909 - Present.
- Nexis Uni (LexisNexis) This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? News, law, and business information service. Includes news from national and international newspapers; wire services and articles from hundreds of periodicals; and a number of other reference sources. All sources are full-text. Updated daily.
EDGAR
"All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. Anyone can access and download this information for free."
Enhanced versions of the database are also available in Mergent Online.
- EDGARThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's freely-available database of corporate filings.
- Mergent Market Atlas This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- What's included? Corporate information covering over 50,000 US and foreign public companies, current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, annual reports, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, long-term debt, capital stock, and insider trading.
Moody's Manuals
Available in the Serial Stacks.
Summary financial statements are presented. Useful for historical data not available online.
Also available online in the reference database Mergent Online.
Specific titles:
- Moody's Bank and Finance ManualCall Number: URI Serials Stacks HG4961 .M65The Carothers Library has 1955-2000.
- Moody's Industrial ManualCall Number: URI Serials Stacks HG4961 .M67The Carothers Library has 1954 - 2001.
- Moody's International ManualCall Number: URI Serials Stacks HG4009 .M66The Carothers Library has 1981 - 2000.
- Moody's Manual of Investments : American and foreignCall Number: URI Serials Stacks HG4961 .M71951-1953. Library has:
BANK AND FINANCE 1951-54
INDUSTRIAL SECURITIES 1947-49,1951-53
PUBLIC UTILITIES SECURITIES 1951-53
RAILROADS 1951-53
TRANS. 1952-53 - Moody's OTC Industrial ManualCall Number: URI Serials Stacks HG4961 .M675The Carothers Library has 1970 - 2000.
"Companies traded over the counter or on regional conferences."
In Print
- Researching company financial information byCall Number: URI Reference HG4061 R47 2002ISBN: 1563659557“Learn what numbers to look for, where to find them and then how to use them to get a clearer financial picture of a company. Learn how to use proxies when ‘real numbers’ can’t be found and how to decide what financial information you really need.”