Bizblock-- A Guide for Business Research

 Any company that sells stock must file a number of financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Financial informatioin for public companies is reported in a number of places.

• OneSource Global Business--Search for your company by name or ticker number, select your company, the financials are listed on the left side
• LexisNexis--Search in the company box, then select financials on the left.
• EDGAR--The SEC's Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval system. Contains electronic versions of most SEC filings including 10-k and 10-q reports.
• Annual Reports--Often found on the company website, these are condensed versions of the SEC filings, written for shareholders.

Private companies are not required to make any financial data available to the public. Unlike public companies, they are not required to file financial data with the SEC. Finding financial data on private companies may be difficult or impossible to do.

Some possible sources for finding private company information:

• Company Websites--Some companies may publish portions of an annual report online.
• Contacting the company--For students, private companies may be willing to share their financial information.