Understanding the numbers in financial filings

CERTAIN details in the financial filings of listed companies will, more likely than not, remain hidden. The reason for this is not surprising: because the few public investors are passive, they don’t challenge any imposition on them by the majority stockholders who control the board.

It is up to individual investors to guess what is hidden behind the numbers disclosed in quarterly and annual financial reports. As long as they receive dividends either in cash or in stock, they would be satisfied with the results of the operations of companies in which they own a few shares.