How to Find DART Annual Reports by Company, Fiscal Period, and Filing Date
Learn how to match company identity and fiscal period when searching DART annual business reports. Distinguish filing dates from reporting periods, then check amendments and consolidated statements.
When finding an annual business report on DART, separate the company, fiscal period, and submission timing. The search date range relates to when a disclosure was received and may differ from the accounting period covered by the report. After finding the original, checking for the latest amendments and the consolidated or separate basis reduces the risk of reading the wrong year’s information.
Fix the company and report type first
First check that you have the correct legal entity. A listed company, its subsidiaries, and entities with similar names can be confused, so record company identification details as well. Distinguish searching for an annual business report from searching for a quarterly report. The Financial Supervisory Service’s OpenDART disclosure search guide also defines annual, semiannual, and quarterly reports as separate types. If there are many results, narrow them using the key part of the title and the report’s reference period. Do not assume a recent document fully describes the annual business; choose the report type your research question requires.
Separate the filing year from the fiscal year
A report for a fiscal year ending in December may be submitted the following year, which makes the need to distinguish the dates clear. Organizing files only by submission year can shift an annual earnings comparison table by one year. Base table columns on the relevant accounting period and keep the filing date in a separate field. When comparing companies with different fiscal year-end months, record each period’s start and end dates as well. If narrowing your search produces no results, check whether you have confused the reporting period with the filing period before concluding that no report exists.
Follow the contents to connect business descriptions with figures
Read the business description to understand what the company sells and which costs it bears, then move to the financial statements and notes. Copying revenue figures alone may omit explanations of segment changes or accounting policies. If you find both consolidated and separate financial statements, identify which you will use and do not mix them. If an amendment exists, incorporate the revised information into your current judgment, while retaining the version available at the time when reconstructing an earlier analysis. When saving material, record the report name, reference period, receipt number, and table location together so someone else can find the same figure.
Worked example
Hypothetical example: Suppose you are analyzing results from January through December 20X1 and find an annual business report submitted in 20X2. Label the comparison table’s year as 20X1 and enter the actual 20X2 submission date in the filing-date field. If you later find an amendment, check the affected figure and reason for the change. Rather than overwriting everything under a filename such as “latest report,” retain the version used in your analysis separately from the current final version.
What to check
- Does the company in the search match the legal entity being researched?
- Have you distinguished annual, semiannual, and quarterly reports?
- Have you recorded the filing date and accounting period in separate fields?
- Have you checked amendments and the consolidated or separate basis?
Sources and primary materials
This is educational material about research methods. For an actual company decision, verify the filings and primary sources for the relevant period.