Overview
In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates the nation's securities markets to ensure that investors have adequate information on which to base their investment decisions. Public companies of certain asset size listed in the United States (including foreign firms) are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically.
Databases
Refinitiv Workspace
Refinitiv features market quotes, earnings estimates, financial fundamentals, press releases, transaction data, corporate filings, ownership profiles and sell-side equity research. (This database replaces ThomsonONE).
ProQuest Historical Annual Reports
Includes company annual reports available through searchable PDF images from 1844 to the present day covering 800+ US companies.
- Reports can be browsed by company name, industry or date. Cross-searchable to other historical periodical databases, such as the Historical Wall Street Journal.
Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis. HBS Alumni version available via eBaker.
- Useful for locating corporate reports. Under Guided Search select Company Info, type in Company Name then select SEC Filings from the drop down menu.
Mergent Archives
Provides access to annual reports issued by companies listed in the United States and internationally back to the late 1800’s and select business annuals archives.
- Annual reports can be searched by company name, dates, country, state or city. Find corporate reports by clicking on Search Mergent Archives on the upper right hand side, then click on the Annual Reports or SEC filings tabs.
Microforms
Detailed Chart of Baker Library Corporate Reports
Detailed listing of corporate reports available at Baker Library by type of filing and format (microfilm, microfiche, CD-ROM, Bloomberg).
Historic Corporate Reports, 1985-2003
2.2 million corporate reports (various SEC filings, proxy statements, prospectuses and annual reports to shareholders) for US and global companies.
Historic Corporate Reports
Special Collections and Archives holds an extensive collection of corporate reports representing over 27,000 companies. This is one of the largest collections of corporate reports in the world, and includes annual reports, prospectuses, proxies, registration statements, and miscellaneous items such as brokerage-house reports, charts, and unpublished corporate histories.
Includes company annual reports, prospectuses, proxies, registration statements, and miscellaneous items such as brokerage-house reports, charts, and unpublished corporate histories for 27,000+ companies in paper for U.S. and international companies dating from 1820 to the present.
Additional Resources
Annual Reports at Academic Business Libraries
A searchable list of annual reports holdings held by 12 leading academic business libraries, including Harvard Business School.
Columbia Historical Corporate Reports
Columbia's digitized Historical Corporate Reports are available through Internet Archive.
Company Web sites often have a section called "company information," "investor relations," or "financial information." Also try a site search on "annual report."
Order the document from the SEC (scroll down to "How to Access or Request Records Not Accessible via SEC Website), or a commercial fulfillment service such as Walter Kluwer SEC Research Services or Refinitiv On Demand.