[cnwsausw] Financials for consumer information

If you as a consumer had access to a company's complete financial information, could you make better purchasing decisions?

The tempting idea is to look at markup of a product (how much a product costs over the supplier's price), especially for retail purchasing, and buy according to least markup. But I'm not sure if that works.

But in general, if you could have access, and it would help, then it would mean there is incentive for a company to conceal, or even lie, about its financial information: rip off the unknowing consumer. Or, any company who does conceal (most every one) is trying to rip of the consumer.