What public company form or annual filing is similar to U.S. SEC's 10-K but for the United Kingdom?

Question

In the U.S., they use a form called 10-K (http://www.sec.gov/answers/form10k.htm) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_10-K).

Is there a similar form in the UK? What is it called and where might one find it?

Answer 1

Form 10-K is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) name and mandated filing format for an annual report to shareholders, codifying the required parts of the report that public companies listed on a U.S. exchange must annually disclose and file with the SEC.

In the U.K., similar concerns governing publicly traded companies fall under the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that came before it. The FCA's handbook has one part on Disclosure and Transparency Rules, specifically DTR 4.1 Annual financial report, which mandates publication of annual financial reports. Brief quote:

Publication of annual financial reports

An issuer [whose transferable securities are admitted to trading and whose home state is the U.K.] must make public its annual financial report at the latest four months after the end of each financial year.

An issuer must ensure that its annual financial report remains publicly available for at least five years.

Content of annual financial reports

The annual financial report must include:

1. the audited financial statements;
2. a management report; and
3. responsibility statements.

[... goes on to describe contents in more detail ...]

According to this summary (PDF), such reports must be published using a Regulatory Information Service (RIS) (e.g., an approved news wire service) as well as made available to the public, typically on the company web site. Shareholders may opt to receive a hard copy notification that the information has been published.