Answer

U.S. reporting companies, foreign and domestic, are currently required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s “SEC” EDGAR system.  U.S. public companies started filing electronically on EDGAR in 1994. Companies and SEC filing types were phased into the system so the scope of what is available on EDGAR varies by company and filing. Companies provide access to their SEC filings and sometimes their glossy annuals on their websites.  This information can generally be found under the Investor Relations tab of the company website.  

The official government site is www.SEC.gov  For public records not posted to the SEC website (usually dated prior to 1996) you may contact the SEC, see the Fast Answers for Records and Information page.

Go to the Business Library's Company & Financial Information section for links to useful resources including links to the following suggested resources that include pre-EDGAR SEC filings that date back many years.

Capital IQ

To search for individual company filings:

1. In the search bar, enter the company name or symbol, e.g., Apple or AAPL.
2. In the left-hand panel, navigate to News, Events, & Filings -> SEC Filings or News, Events, & Filings -> Filings and Annual Reports.

To search across many filings:

1. Under "Companies," click on "SEC Filings" or "Filings and Annual Reports" in the dropdown list.
2. Search by ticker(s), company name, list type, person name, accession number, CIK code, etc.

Mergent Online

To search for an individual company filings:

1. Go to the Basic search, search for a company by name or symbol, e.g., Apple or AAPL
2. Go to Fillings for the first 25 filings from the last 90 days;  For additional filings, please use Edgar Search

To search across many filings:

1. Go to the Government Filings tab,  select SEC Filings (US filings) or SEDAR (Canadian filings), and apply your search parameters

Hoovers

To search for an individual company’s SEC filings:

1. Use the search box in the upper right corner to enter the company name or symbol.

To search across many filings:

1. Go to SEC Filings under Search & Build a List on the homepage.
2. Enter your SEC filing search parameters, e.g., date, form type, industry, etc.

LSEG Workspace (formerly Refinitiv Workspace)

To search for an individual company’s SEC filings:

1. In the search bar, search for a company by name or symbol, e.g., Apple or AAPL

2. Go to Filings tab -> click Filings

To search across many filings:

1. Go to Advanced Filings Search app by typing ADVFIL
2. In the Advanced Filings Search landing page
   1. Search by company, or/and portfolio, or Keyword search
   2. Click the filter icon, to apply more search parameters, e.g., Date Type, Categories, Countries/Regions,  Industries, etc.

For Bulk Downloading:

SEC Analytics Suite by WRDS

1. See WRDS guide for access help
2. Allows parsing for millions of SEC filings based on custom criteria. Includes an SEC Filings Index, a Readability and Sentiment Analysis tool, a Filings Search tool, SEC Linking Tables, and a Bag of Words interface.