U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

United States Securities and Exchange Commission. (2001). The Scotts Company Annual Report, United States Securities and Exchange Commission (2001). The Scotts Company Quarterly Report, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Scotts Company (2002). The Scotts Company 2001 summary annual report and 2001 financial statements and other information. Marysville, OH The Scotts Company. 

K An annual report filed by publicly held companies. It provides a comprehensive overview of the company s business and its finances. By law, it must contain specific information and follow a given form, the Annual Report on Form 10-K. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires that it be filed within 90 days after fiscal year end. 

American Home Products Corporation, Annual Report, Filing With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, DC, 1988. 

Another important area impacting financial performance is conflict minerals, which has been a topic of discussion for quite some time. These are minerals mined from areas of the world where armed conflict and human rights abuses occur. Recently, this topic has gained special attention. Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires certain companies using conflict minerals in their products to disclose the source of these minerals. Even though an estimated 6,000 companies will be directly impacted by this rule, many private companies within the supply chains of those companies will also be affected. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission expects the cost of compliance to be substantial for all involved. For primary companies and their suppliers, initial estimates for cost of compliance are between US 3 billion and US 4 billion, with annual costs thereafter of between US 207 million and US 609 million. ... 

For investor protection, Congress passed the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These acts provided government oversight on U.S. capital to prevent the kind of fraud that had resulted in the 1929 stock market crash. In 1934, Congress established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enforce the new laws and to provide stability for U.S. capital markets (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2007). 

In the United States, public companies are required to report their financial performance quarterly, with an annual report required at the end of the fiscal year. Non-U.S. companies with a stock trading on a U.S. stock exchange must also file quarterly and annual statements. Even foreign, public companies not on a U.S. exchange file annual reports for use by investors, analysts, and employees. Annual and quarterly reports are often found on the companies websites listed under investor relations. In the United States, these reports are available from the Securities and Exchange Commission (http //www.sec.gov) at no charge. Financial information on private companies is much more difficult to find. Users must depend on disclosure by the private company or rely on primary research vendors for information. 

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