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ACCT 601: Financial Accounting: SEC Filings & Investment Reports

This is a guide for conducting company research from a financial accounting perspective, including financial data, analysis and current news stories; course guide for ACCT 100, 601 and 705.

SEC Filings

SECPublicly-traded companies must file financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the body that oversees all U.S. stock exchanges. The most useful is the 10-K, an official audited document that includes similar information from a prospectus or annual report, but provides additional updated financial information on corporate activities. Filings can be found at the SEC's Edgar Database.

Other commonly-sought filings include:

  • 10-Q: quarterly report
  • Proxy statements, including the DEF14-A
  • 8-K current event informational filings

These filings collectively are the source material for available financial statements and other factual data in our various subscription databases and many other free web company information sources.

What's EDGAR?

EDGAR is the Securities & Exchange Commission's (SEC) public website for finding and retrieving required periodic company information filings.

Resources for Investment Analyst Reports

In addition to checking the company's website, here are other sources to check for analysis of a company's operational and financial prospects.

Bloomberg Terminal for Financial Data & Analyst Reports

Picture of a dual-screen Bloomberg Terminal and keyboard

Another option for retrieving financial data and investment analyst reports is to use the Bloomberg Terminal. The Opus College of Business pays for a single terminal for student and faculty use. It is located on the Minneapolis campus in Schulze Hall 325. The room is locked; if you don't have keycard access via membership in the Aristotle Fund or another course, contact John Heintz at the Keffer Library on the Minneapolis campus to arrange a time to access the room. jpheintz@stthomas.edu | (651) 962-4646.