Skip to Main Content

MBA 798/799

Company Profiles & Financials

Company Profiles are sources of comprehensive information about a company's overall operations. These resources will often provide details about a company's executive leadership, board, investors, supply chain, financials, and more. 

Company Financials are easily located in official documents from the Securities Exchange Commission for U.S. publicly-traded companies. There is generally much more information available about publicly traded companies than those which are privately held. 

Prepare for Your Search

What is the complete, official name of the company? Keep in mind that a company's common name (for example, McDonald's) may not be its official name (McDonald's Corporation). When possible, use the company's complete official name as your search term.

Is the company a subsidiary? A company is a subsidiary when it is partially or wholly owned by another company. A common example is Google and YouTube, which are subsidiaries of Alphabet, Inc. In some cases, company information for a subsidiary will be published or indexed under its parent company.

Find ticker symbols. Ticker symbols are letter codes that stand for specific publicly traded companies on stock exchanges and indices. Using a ticker symbol is useful for ensuring accuracy in search results, especially in cases where multiple companies share similar names.

Using SEC Filings in Company Research

Public companies in the US are required to file annual, quarterly, and current reports based on SEC regulations. Annual and quarterly reports include financial information for the period covered by the report. Item 1 of annual reports includes risk factors that inform overall macroenvironment analyses.

Form Type Description
10-K This is a company's annual report. It provides audited annual financial statements, a discussion of material risk factors for the company and its business, and a management’s discussion and analysis of the company’s results of operations for the prior fiscal year.
10-Q These are quarterly reports. A 10-Q includes unaudited quarterly financial statements, updates regarding material risks that the company faces, and management’s discussion and analysis of the company’s results of operations for the prior fiscal quarter.
8-K Current reports which disclose material events or information that the company chooses or is required to make public prior to its next scheduled quarterly or annual report.

Source: EDGAR Guide

300 College Park Dr.
Dayton, Ohio 45469
937-229-4221
library@udayton.edu
CONNECT
HOURS
Outside view of Roesch Library
chat loading...