BA 2123 - Principles of Accounting I

The Annual Report to Shareholders (ARS) is the principal document used by major corporations to communicate directly with their shareholders. It is different from the Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or 10-K. ARS may also be called the Summary Annual Report.

ARS is not a required SEC filing; it contains information (usually annual financial statements) that are referenced by the company's 10-K filing.  Also included in most annual reports is information about the company's business, sales and marketing, and analysis of the company's condition made by the CEO.  

Use the database to find annual reports for companies around the globe. 

If for some reason, an annual report is not available, you should be able to find this information online as well. Nowadays, every reputable company has an investor relations section on its website that is a wealth of information.

These often contain a downloadable version of an annual report, stock quotes, an investor newsletter, archived conference calls and even the opportunity for current shareholders to sign up for electronic reports.

Now that you have your annual report, we are going to find articles that demonstrate a feature of the report.