SEC Filings: Champion Industries

Searching for Champion Industries (NASDAQ/CHMP) brought up many results. Some of them were difficult to understand, but I found a news release, which was useful. The Jan. 27 release explained, in layman's terms, the company's results for the fourth quarter and for the 2010 calendar year. Having this document available is a smart move. It will be an aid to journalists who may be covering this topic.

Other documents were not as easy to understand. I found many quarterly reports and annual reports. I found some of it comprehendible, but a lot of the terminology would be hard for me to explain to readers if I were writing a story without help from someone more knowledgable.

I also found documents referred to as proxy statements, which were identified as being for use at the company's annual shareholder meetings. I'm not sure of the meaning behind the title, but digging deeper into the text I found information regarding the election of directors, including biographical information for the potential directors. Information about the number of directors' meetings held was another thing included.

The documents were intimidating, but I think with some time, effort and guidance, they could be understandable.

Edit: Out of curiosity, I also looked up CSX on the SEC website. I found an interesting feature for their filings - interactive charts that allowed users to click on different categories for details about what that category encompassed. This is a great feature, and it's an extremely useful one, as well.