Question: EDGAR, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, is a giant database of documents the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that companies submit. All publicly traded domestic companies use EDGAR to make the majority of their filings. (Filings by foreign companies are not required to be filed on EDGAR, but many of these companies do so voluntarily.) Form 10-K, which includes the annual report, is an important document required to be filed on EDGAR. The SEC makes this information available, free to the public, on the Internet.
Required: 1. Access EDGAR on the Internet. The web address is www.sec.gov.
2. Search for a public company with which you are familiar. Access its most recent 10-K filing, and search or scroll to find the statement of stockholders' equity.
3. Determine from the statement the transactions that affected common stock during the past year.
4. Determine from the statement the transactions that affected retained earnings during the past year.
5. Explain how the totals on the statement of stockholders' equity agree with the amounts reported in the stockholders' equity section in the balance sheet.