Most major stock market exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, require their listed companies to provide quarterly and annual financial reports to investors. That includes foreign companies with shares of stock that trade on either exchange.
Some private companies offering generous stock option programs to employees often find themselves eventually having to start filing financial reports. Internet search company Google, for instance, was private for roughly six years after it was founded in 1998. The company quickly hit the $10 million threshold for total assets, meaning it was required to provide financial statements. At that time, Google decided it might as well become publicly traded and sell shares to investors in an IPO because it was going to have to report its financial statements. Google launched its IPO in August 2004.