Stardate: 2853.0303. San Francisco, Eastern PacRim Zone.

Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Yeoman Motli Fool peered at the income statement for Evil Empire, Inc., which glowed on the data link in front of them. They struggled to unravel the conundrum of the connection between the rising dilithium prices and the sinking of Star Fleet Headquarters in San Francisco.

With the tectonic dampeners mysteriously offline, tractor beams from the Excelsior and Voyager-B, both in geosationary orbit over San Francisco, had succeeded in slowing the Presidio's sink rate, but could not hope to arrest it. Without the stabilizing effect of the subterranean dampeners, the entire fleet could only delay the inevitable.

Suddenly, a large Klingon burst into the room, his gaze fixed on Kirk. He thumped his chest loudly with the clenched fist of his right hand, extending his arm to Kirk in the traditional Klingon salute. "Kaplah!" he boomed in his best Klingon basso profundo.

"Gezundheit," replied Kirk.

The Klingon became enraged. "You dishonor me! I should kill you where you stand!"

McCoy raised one eyebrow and whispered, "I don't speak much Klingon, Jim, but I think he's saluting you."

Kirk saluted back.

"Galron of the High Council has sent me to inform you that the Klingon Empire has captured an Evil Empire vessel that was attempting to transit a prohibited route through Klingon space into the Neutral Zone on a direct course for Romulus."

"Is Galron's subspace radio broken or something?" Kirk asked suspiciously. "Why'd he send you to tell me?"

The Klingon grunted, "It was felt that the news of this particular incident was too sensitive to transmit over subspace. The vessel's cargo manifest stated that it was loaded with building materials. But when we boarded it and searched, we discovered the cargo bays were filled to capacity with dilithium!"

"Dilithium? Are you sure?"

"I think we know dilithium when we see it, Captain Kirk." He thrust a data pad at Kirk's face with the sensor readings from the Evil Empire's cargo ship.

Kirk, reading over the figures, muttered, "Wow … that's enough dilithium to purchase Vulcan outright … probably a couple of the non-aligned worlds, too."

Something about Kirk's words struck Yeoman Fool as familiar. What was it? Something about the Evil Empire's income statement… something about the inflated prices it paid for all that worthless Marina district swamp land.

Maybe if she knew who was buying the EE products it might shed some light on what was going on.

What would be the easiest and best way for Yeoman Fool to find out who the major customers of Evil Empre are?

1) Call them up and talk to the CEO or CFO.

2) Take that little Ferrenghi who worked in mining at EE she met last night up to the wahoo deck and ... .

3) Read the accompanying management comments to the financial statements in the Evil Empire's 10-Q.

4) There is no way to find out who their customers are.

The correct answer is 3) Read the accompanying management comments to the financial statements in the Evil Empire's 10-Q.

Before investing in a company, you should know if it relies on a large percentage of sales to a few key customers. This information may come out in the annual report, but the SEC requires that management discuss its business and the various risks in the 10-K report. In examining the business section of the 10-K, look for a discussion of sales to key customers. Most companies will mention the revenue generated from each key customer and any critical contract information such as the contract expiration date, exercise options, performance requirements, and renewal terms. The notes that accompany financial statements may also mention any major customers.

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