Keeping Current

Q: What is the role of the Board of Directors?

A: Members of the Board of Directors are elected to represent the shareholders of a company. A Board is generally comprised of a combination of management representatives and shareholder representatives. They vote on issues critical to company management such as hiring or firing of executives, executive compensation, dividend issue, and more.

Do you have a question for the Librarian Relations Group? Please send your questions to documentresearch_librarians@morningstar.com. For more Ask A Librarian tips, click here.

Did you know you can easily view and re-run your recent searches?

On the Home Page, the Recent Search History module lists your most recent search strategies, newest to oldest. Click on any item to automatically re-run the search, or click on More to view your entire search history for the last month:

Q: Are companies required to warn investors of potential financial difficulties?

A. Yes, this information is disclosed in Item 1A of the 10-K filing.  Item 1A is designated as Risk Factors and includes all significant factors that may pose risk to a company’s financial status. Examples include funding risks, regulatory changes, production issues, downturn in the industry, and more.

Do you have a question for the Librarian Relations Group? Please send your questions to documentresearch_librarians@morningstar.com. For more Ask A Librarian tips, click here.

Did you know that searching the Exhibits database is the most effective way to find key contracts and agreements, press releases, and other informative documents?

While it’s possible to locate keywords in Exhibits with a Filings Search, use the Exhibits search template to build more targeted search strategies. Searches in Exhibit Type, Title, or Body will generate more relevant results:

On the Results page, clicking (Preview) opens a pop-up window with the first few paragraphs of the exhibit; click on the Exhibit Name or any Keyword to view, download, or print the full-text document:

For more information about this database, please refer to the Exhibits help document.

Question: What is an insider?

Answer. Generally, an insider is a beneficial owner, a director, or a senior officer of a company. For purposes of insider trading, the definition of insider expands to include any person who has material non-public knowledge about a company and its dealings. This can include family, friends or other business associates. Insider trading is heavily regulated by the SEC.

Did you know about our instructional Videos?

We have prepared a series of brief Videos to provide clear guidance on navigating the site and using key features. To access, simply scroll down the Home Page to the Training Videos section, or click here to visit the Videos page.  Select any topic to start the video or download transcripts:

Each Video is 3-6 minutes and covers a single topic such as creating Alerts, navigating Results, or using Knowledge Base.

Question: Can foreign companies file initial public offerings (IPO)?

Answer: Yes, foreign issuers are required to file an F-1 to register securities for sale in the U.S. An F-1 is a registration statement and includes a detailed business description, executive biographies, financial tables and more. To search for foreign IPOs, go to the Filings Search page and enter F-1 and F-1/A in the Enter Form box.

Did you know we have Historical Stock Data for publicly-traded companies?

To access, select Profile from the Database Search drop-down menu, and enter a Company Name or Ticker in the Identifier module. On the Company Profile page, scroll down to the Quotes content and click on [More]:

A pop-up window will appear with detailed information about the company, including current stock data and company news. Click on Historical in the top navigation bar to view daily stock values for the last month. Use the Start and End boxes to display any date range after 1961:

Question: What are SEC Comment Letters?

Answer: Comment letters are correspondence between SEC staff and filing companies. The letters, which are initiated by the SEC, are issued in response to specific information disclosed in a filing. The SEC can request additional information or documentation, require revisions of a filing, or instruct the filer to provide additional information in future filings. A letter from the SEC to the filer is labeled UPLOAD, and the response letter from the filer to the SEC is labeled CORRESP. The comment letter process can involve several rounds of correspondence until the issue is resolved.

Do you have a question for the Librarian Relations Group? Please send your questions to documentresearch_librarians@morningstar.com. For more Ask A Librarian tips, click here.

Did you know the List Companies tool can help summarize your search results?

From the Search Results page, click on Tools and select List Companies from the drop-down menu. This will generate a list of all SEC filers involved in your results, including joint-filing companies and other companies mentioned in the headers:

For more information about this feature, please refer to the Navigation help document.