Publicly traded companies must electronically file a variety of forms or reports with the SEC, including the Form 10-K, which includes the audited annual financial statements. The SEC makes most of these electronic documents available on the Internet via
EDGAR, which stands for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system. The primary purpose for EDGAR is to increase the efficiency and fairness of the securities market for the benefit of investors, corporations, and the economy by accelerating the receipt, acceptance, dissemination, and analysis of time-sensitive corporate information filed with the agency.
a. Visit the SEC website (www.sec.gov) and use the link to “Company Filings Search”
(under “Filings”) to locate the Form 10-K filing for Facebook, Inc., for the year ended
December 31, 2017, to answer the following questions:
1. Who was Facebook’s auditor?
2. Did the audit firm issue a combined or separate report(s) on the financial statements and on internal controls over financial reporting?
3. What type of audit opinion did the auditor provide for the financial statements?
4. What was the auditor’s opinion about internal controls over financial reporting?
5. What was the report date for the audit report?
