Demonstrate how to locate SEC data and various financial statements.

Demonstrate how to locate SEC data and various financial statements.

Select any publicly traded organization (e.g., your employer may be a good choice). Locate the organization on the SEC’s Web site at http://www.sec.gov. Use the EDGAR database on the SEC Web site to view the organization’s 10k filing. Also, search for the company’s standard industrial classification (SIC) code. Retrieve the different financial statements in the 10k filing. Check out the footnotes in the financial statements. Discuss any emerging issues that are evident on the SEC Web site.

Let’s do an example in case you have trouble. You will need to write this down or print it out somehow so you can use this example to get to the information.

Click on the SEC Link in the instructions; it will take you to the SEC Home page. You can explore that for a while. But to get to our sample information, look for “Filings” on the menu bar, then click on “Company Filings Search.”

On the next page type “Wal Mart” (without quotes and make sure you put in the space and do not use a “-“; just Wal Mart) in the Company Name box; click “Search.”

Now see “Wal Mart Stores Inc?” Note the SIC Code just below it.

Click then on the 0000104169 (you may have to scroll down a few pages) and take a look at all the information there. Look down the page at all the information filed by Wal Mart with the SEC. Look specifically for a 10K filing. Click on “html” for the 10K; it should eventually display on your screen, though you may need to click through a few links to find it (web sites change from time to time as new information is added).

Explore this; it is quite long and quite detailed. I suspect you will be amazed to see how much information a company must share with the world and how much is available to you if you go looking. Take a good hard look over this document.

Do some research on this site to tell us just what a 10K is?

Give it a try, and then try another publicly traded company. Try a big one; it will be easier for you to isolate. If you cannot get any further than Wal Mart, you can discuss what you find about them for this assignment. However, TRY to select different companies so the entire class is not researching the same company. We will all learn more this way.