Find it here for those who want to stop reading.
With Facebook expected to file it's S-1 today, here's a short tutorial on how to find an S-1 SEC filling. We encourage all PolicyMic'ers to spend more time looking at the filings of public companies, which provide very detailed disclosure and important data for understanding the economy and the ethics of certain buisinesses.
The best place to find filings is on the Securities & Exchange Commission's (SEC) website, EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval). EDGAR is meant to improve the efficiency and fairness of public filings. Here's a step by step:
1) Go to the SEC's EDGAR site to search for companies & filings
2) Click Search for Company Filings
3) Use the Search by Company tool
4) If you know the ticker, put it in. Facebook has not announced it's ticker so search by company name
You can also monitor the list of recent S-1 (the document needed for an IPO) filings here.
EDGAR is an incredibly powerful resource when used effectively. We encourage all pundits to take familiarize themselves with the filings of public companies. For starters, take a look at the 10-K for companies, which is the comprehensive annual report (take a look at Exxon's here).
You will be amazed by the information you can find by quickly going through these documents.
