Annual Reports

The Annual Report is a detailed annual update of activities in any organisation, with information concerning projects, accomplishments, financial statements and year-end statistics.

Click on the links below for more information:

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Print Versions of Annual Reports held in the Main Library

Companies, institutions, government departments, semi-state bodies and organisations generally make their Annual Reports available through their websites. The library does still maintain a collection of the print versions of annual reports covering the years 1996 - 2003 - this collection is located at Basement level under the glass bridge. These reports are listed on the WITcat online catalogue - you can see a full listing by choosing Dewey Number Search and entering A/R as your search term.
Free glossy copies of annual reports from a selection of Irish, UK and European public companies may be requested from the Financial Times Annual Reports Service.

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Finding Annual Reports on the WWW

Many Public companies ( companies whose shares are listed and traded on a stock exchange ) will have have a downloadable version of their annual report on their website - this section is often called "Investor Relations" or "Company Information" etc. See our Internet Resources section for advice on Internet searching. One can frequently access a company website directly by entering www.companyname.com into the address box of your browser.

There are numerous gateway sites to company information on the web. Examples include :

EDGAR
Since 1996 all US public companies electronically file annual and quarterly financial results ( and other documents ) with the Securities and Exchange Commision, and these documents are downloadable from this site. These are simple text files rather than glossy documents with photographs etc. but are the official filings and the best source of complete and timely information. A 10-K is the equivalent of an annual report. Many US corporations will also produce a ' glossy ' annual report, a version of which is usually downloadable from their website.

SEDAR
Downloadable PDF copies of official filings of Canadian Public companies.

CAROL
This is a free gateway to annual reports of a selection of major public companies in Europe, Asia and the USA.

Comisin Nacional del Mercado de Valores
Spanish public company filings. Interface available in English, reports in Spanish.

Corporate Information
An excellent compendium of business information sources for a large range of countries.

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Private v. Public Companies

Private companies' shares are not listed and traded on a stock exchange. As these companies do not offer their shares for sale to the general public they are not obliged to disclose as much information about themselves as public companies are obliged to do.
Rules on the types of information private companies are required to disclose differs from country to country. In the Rep. of Ireland companies are required to annually file audited Accounts and an Annual Return. The Annual Return lists the directors, the company secretary, the registered office and shareholders. These documents are filed with the Companies Registration Office, 14 Parnell Square, Dublin and can be obtained by the public from this office or through commercial intermediaries.

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