How to Cite an Annual Report in APA Style

If you are conducting research into business or finance, you may have to reference an organization's annual report in your reference list. American Psychological Association, or APA, style provides a simple template for referencing a source published by a company in your paper.

Reference List

When citing an annual report retrieved from a website or database on your reference list, use the following format:

Organization title. (Year). Title of report. Retrieved from URL or Database name.

For example:

American Civil Liberties Union. (2014). ACLU Annual Report 2014. Retrieved from https://www.aclu.org/organization-news-and-highlights/aclu-annual-report-2014.

If the annual report was retrieved from the print archives of the company instead, note the location of the company instead of the web address:

American Civil Liberties Union. (2014). ACLU Annual Report 2014. New York, NY: Author.

"Author" is used as shorthand for the organization name, because it is already noted as the source author in the reference.

In-Text Citation

Whenever you reference information located in the annual report in the body of your text, include an in-text citation noting the source from which it came. This will include the organization name, year and page number, if applicable. For example:

(American Civil Liberties Union, 2014, p. 20)

If you reference the same source multiple times throughout your paper, use an acronym in place of the organization name in each citation after the first:

(ACLU, 2014, p. 31)

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