As a novice investor what would be the easiest way to get accurate info on public companies?

I know there is a wealth of info out there, but what sources are the most reliable and least time consuming?

Yahoo Finance. You have to look at the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow. If you want to learn how to analyze companies using the previously stated, read my blog.

Depends on what info you're looking for.

Yahoo! Finance has quite a bit of good free info including news reports, delayed stock quotes, dividend dates, and analyst recommendations. Try going to http://finance.yahoo.com and looking up any company's stock ticker symbol. Yahoo!'s ticker symbol is YHOO, for instance.

It's hard to really dig deep into a company's proprietary numbers because companies just don't share that information with the public.

www.sec.gov

all the information you need.

time consuming - if you want to make money without spending the time and effort, you should go to a casino, because you are betting on luck.

There is no easy way. Companies can lie on their financials, opinions can be biased, analysts can be manipulative...

The most reliable information is the price and volume action. You need to learn how to accurately interpret both as they reflect what investors are actually doing - not saying or thinking.