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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

Commission File Number: 000-24799

THE CORPORATE EXECUTIVE BOARD COMPANY
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(202) 777-5000
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:    Not applicable

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share
(Title of class)

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [x] No [  ]

     Based upon the closing price of the registrant’s common stock as of February 15, 2002, the aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant is $1,168,276,575*.

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APPLICABLE ONLY TO CORPORATE ISSUERS:

     Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date.

     As of February 15, 2002, The Corporate Executive Board Company had outstanding 34,905,186 shares of Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

     List hereunder the following documents incorporated by reference and the Part of the Form 10-K into which the document is incorporated:

     None.

A NOTE ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

     We have made forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K, including the sections entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business,” that are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Forward-looking statements include the information concerning our possible or assumed results of operations, business strategies, financing plans, competitive position and potential growth opportunities. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates” or similar expressions.

     Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We do not have any intention or obligation to update forward-looking statements after we distribute this Form 10-K.

     You should understand that many important factors could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause our future results to differ from those reflected in forward-looking statements are the risks discussed in this Form 10-K under the heading “Business-Risk Factors”.

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PART I

Item 1. Business.

Overview

     We provide “best practices” research and quantitative analysis focusing on corporate strategy, operations and general management issues. Best practices research supports senior executive decision making by identifying and analyzing specific management initiatives, processes and strategies that have been determined to produce the best results in solving common business problems or challenges.

     We provide research and analysis to a membership of 1,802 of the world’s largest and most prestigious corporations. For a fixed, annual fee, members of each research program have access to an integrated set of services, including:

	•		best practices research studies,
	•		executive education seminars,
	•		customized research briefs and
	•		web-based access to the program’s content database and decision support tools.

     For each of the last three years, our client renewal rate (defined as the percentage of member institutions renewed, adjusted to reflect reductions in member institutions resulting from mergers and acquisitions of members) and our subscription renewal rate (defined as the percentage of membership subscriptions renewed, adjusted to reflect reductions in membership subscriptions resulting from mergers and acquisitions of members) have equaled or exceeded 90% and 82%, respectively. More than 70% of the Fortune 500 companies are members of The Corporate Executive Board.

     Our membership-based model, in which all customers (or “members”) participate in our research and analysis, is central to our business strategy. This model gives us access to the best business practices of our members and enables us to provide comprehensive analysis on current business issues, assessing the collective experiences and knowledge of our members on leading-edge topics. By participating in The Corporate Executive Board, members can learn about the best practices of the most progressive corporations in the world at a fraction of the cost of a customized analysis performed by any of the major consulting firms. We do not believe that in-house research and analysis departments at individual corporations could obtain, at any price, similar information from other corporations about their management practices.

     In general, our membership comprises the most progressive companies in each industry sector. Representative members include American Express, British Airways, Charles Schwab, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Dell, Deutsche Bank, eBay, Hewlett-Packard, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Sony and Unilever. No one member accounted for more than 2% of revenues in any of the last three fiscal years. We do not know of any other entity that enables corporations to study a broad range of the best business practices of hundreds of other business enterprises for fixed, annual fees.

     We currently offer 18 discrete research programs, each focusing on separate business constituencies, including:

	•		human resources,
	•		corporate strategy,
	•		information technology,
	•		sales and marketing,
	•		finance,
	•		legal,
	•		operations and procurement,
	•		research and development and
	•		financial services.

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     We added six new research programs during the past two years and anticipate adding three to four new research programs per year for the next two to three years. Each research program charges a separate fixed, annual fee and is served by a dedicated staff of analysts and researchers. Memberships generally are renewable on a 12-month basis. The average price per research program at December 31, 2001, was approximately $31,700.

     Our revenues and costs have grown at compound annual rates of 34.2% and 24.8%, respectively, from December 31, 1998 through December 31, 2001. Because each research program provides our membership with standardized best practices research studies and executive education seminars, new members immediately add to our revenues while only incrementally increasing our operating costs. Our growth strategy is to cross-sell additional research programs to existing members, to add new members and to develop new research programs and decision support tools.

Industry Background

     Corporations today are experiencing greater competitive demands and facing increasingly complex strategic and operational issues. The globalization of the economy, the transformation from an industrial era to an information age, the accelerating pace of technological change and the emergence of e-business are dramatically altering the business environment. In response to these trends, companies are exploring new business strategies as well as reevaluating the performance of individual departments within their organizations in order to maintain their competitive edge. The pace of change is driving a greater interest in gaining access to leading management practices and solutions to common business problems on a cross-industry basis.

     Participants in the professional information services industry have approached the market for business-focused information by offering a variety of products and services, including market research, strategic planning, implementation services and educational programs. Services differ by the level of engagement, with some offering project-driven or long-term consulting contracts, and others providing continuous research publishing. Other entities, such as trade associations, non-profit think tanks and research and database companies, also offer research, consulting and education services.

     We offer a distinctive approach that combines many of the benefits of general management consulting and training and development firms. Our research and analysis covers the same major business issues generally addressed by management consulting firms, such as managing growth, reducing costs, streamlining operations and developing strategy. What makes our approach distinctive is that we provide the same, standardized product to our entire membership at a fraction of the cost of consulting services. In common with training and development firms, we offer education services both on-site at member institutions and in large multi-company settings. Unlike training and development firms, which typically invest only periodically in new curriculum development, our curriculum is updated constantly by our best practices research organization. Another distinguishing characteristic is the seniority and breadth of our audience—we brief executive and senior management staff drawn from a broad range of industry sectors, business units and departments. Because of our high quality research product, unique approach to the market and network of leading companies, we believe that we offer our customers a superior value proposition.

Business Strategy

     Our goal is to research and analyze the most pertinent and timely strategic and operational issues facing our membership, and to distribute the results of this analysis to our membership in the most efficient, effective and helpful manner. Our membership model allows us to draw upon a large and growing universe of issues and solutions of relevance to today’s leading corporations. We actively engage our membership to help focus our research on the most urgent challenges in the current business environment and to maintain and enhance our position as the leading provider of best practices research and analysis.

	•		Maintain Membership-Based Model. We believe that our membership-based model is key to our success. We continually strive to increase our ties to our members. We encourage members to view us as their proprietary off-site research facility. Our fixed-fee economic model promotes frequent use of our products and services. We believe that member satisfaction grows as members access more of our services, and that the growing roster of satisfied members validates our business model and induces new members to join The Corporate Executive Board.
	•		Focus on Best Practices Research. The focus of our work is on researching best demonstrated business and management practices. Many large corporations believe that there are research economies and other benefits that can be realized by learning from the experiences of similar entities facing common business problems. We believe that there will be a continuing desire on the part of progressive corporations to access ever-evolving solutions to these common business problems. We believe that our success to date has uniquely positioned us as a leading source for identifying,

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			studying, evaluating and communicating these evolving solutions.
	•		Continue Research and Analysis Excellence. We believe that the quality of our research and analysis has driven our success. We regularly interact with senior executives at member institutions to identify the most important strategic and operational issues for research and analysis. Experienced program directors are responsible for assuring that our research methodology is applied to all studies and that research quality is maintained across all research programs. We are highly selective in our hiring, recruiting only the top graduates of the leading universities and graduate schools. We emphasize continual training of all employees in key areas, including industry analysis, economics, quantitative modeling, root-cause analysis and presentation skills.
	•		Build Membership Network. As our research programs grow in size and influence, we constantly are expanding our network of executives at our member companies. We believe that the growth of this network benefits members by increasing the number of executives they can contact for information, and by providing them with access to a broader range of companies. We believe that these positive ''network effects’’ further strengthen our membership-based business model.
	•		Leverage Economic Model. We derive most of our revenues from fixed, annual fees for our research programs. A large portion of our costs of delivering our products and services in each research program are fixed and do not vary with the number of members. We expect to increase revenues and improve program-operating margins as we add new members to our research programs.

Growth Strategy

     We believe that demand for our services will continue to grow, as even the most prestigious corporations recognize the need to improve their performance and seek access to other companies’ solutions to common business problems. Our growth strategy centers on leveraging the formula that we have developed across the past decade by cross-selling subscriptions to existing members, adding new members and developing new research programs and decision support tools.

	•		Cross-sell Additional Subscriptions to Existing Members. On average, members currently participate in 2.42 research programs. We actively are cross-selling additional membership subscriptions and believe that most members are potential participants in up to 12 of the research programs we currently offer, which are directed at corporate staff positions maintained by most major companies. We believe that membership subscription cross-selling opportunities will increase as we develop new research programs.
	•		Add New Members. We have targeted approximately 2,400 additional institutions worldwide as potential new members, including U.S. companies with revenues greater than $750 million and financial institutions with assets in excess of $1 billion.
	•		Develop New Research Programs. We currently offer research programs covering 18 business constituencies. We have added six new research programs during the past two years. We also have identified more than 50 additional corporate constituencies that we might target as we develop new research programs. This list includes opportunities to serve corporate functions beyond the 18 we serve today. We believe that each is a unique constituency with the potential to support a tailored research agenda and a suite of educational and other services.

The Membership Network

     Our membership-based model, in which all members participate in our research and analysis, is central to our business strategy. This model gives us access to the best business practices of our members and enables us to provide comprehensive analysis on current business issues, assessing the collective experiences and knowledge of our members on leading-edge topics. By participating in The Corporate Executive Board, members can learn about the best practices and access tools and frameworks of the most progressive corporations in the world at a fraction of the cost of a customized analysis performed by any of the major consulting firms. We do not believe that in-house research and analysis departments at individual corporations could obtain, at any price, similar information from other corporations about their business practices. We believe that there is no other entity that enables corporations to study a broad range of the business practices of hundreds of other business enterprises for fixed, annual fees.

     We regularly interact with senior executives at member institutions to identify the most important strategic and operational issues for research and analysis and continually strive to increase our ties to our members. Our products and services are available

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exclusively to members. Our fixed-fee economic model promotes frequent use of our products and services. We encourage members to view us as their proprietary off-site research facility. We believe that member satisfaction grows as members access more of our services, and that the growing roster of satisfied members validates our business model and induces new members to join The Corporate Executive Board.

     The following table sets forth information with respect to members, subscriptions and renewals as of the dates shown:

(1)		For the year then ended. Client renewal rate is defined as the percentage of member institutions renewed, adjusted to reflect reductions in member institutions resulting from mergers and acquisitions of members.
(2)		For the year then ended. Subscription renewal rate is defined as the percentage of membership subscriptions renewed, adjusted to reflect reductions in membership subscriptions resulting from mergers and acquisitions of members.
(3)		Aggregate annualized revenue attributed to all agreements in effect at a given date without regard to the remaining duration of any such agreement.

Products and Services

  General

     Our research products and services focus on identifying, analyzing and describing best demonstrated management practices. In general, our research focuses primarily on identifying best demonstrated management practices, and secondarily on critiquing widely-followed but ineffective practices. We believe that we add value by enabling member companies to enhance revenues and reduce costs by objectively identifying best corporate practices that solve pressing corporate problems, and developing tools to help members implement these practices.

     Our research programs offer a cost-effective, time-efficient opportunity for senior executives to learn from the practices and experiences of other corporations from around the world. Member institutions can participate in one of our research programs for a fraction of the cost of proceeding independently either through an internal research effort or through engaging a management consulting firm.

     Each research program is guided by a 12- to 18-month agenda. Each research program has a research director who is responsible for applying our research methodology to produce best practices studies and for maintaining research quality across all research program services. Using web and fax polls, steering sessions, teleconferences and one-on-one interviews, the research program’s director works closely with the membership of that program to identify agenda topics of shared interest and to set the research program’s priorities. Each research program is staffed by a dedicated team of researchers, analysts and instructors who collectively research and write the best practices studies, complete the customized research briefs and present the findings to the program’s membership.

     For a fixed, annual fee, members of each research program have access to an integrated set of services, including best practices research studies, executive education seminars, customized research briefs and web-based access to the programs content database and decision support tools. A description of each service follows.

  Best Practices Research Studies

     Each research program generally publishes five to ten best practices research studies annually, each addressing a specific corporate issue or problem identified in the research agenda. We design each best practices study to present the conclusions and supporting best practices in a graphical format, enabling the intended audience quickly to assimilate the 20 to 200 pages of research content. We create each report using our structured research methodology: topic selection, root cause analysis, secondary research, primary interviewing, analysis of findings and report writing. Each program director can call upon the support of the Chief Research Officer and his staff to provide assistance in framing arguments, screening best practices, developing web-based deliverables and editing studies and their derivative executive education curriculum content.

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     In the course of researching a best practices study topic, the research team typically will review thousands of pages of business and academic literature to ground their understanding of the issues. The teams often will create and analyze primary data about members operations and performance to understand key economic leverage points and direct the research to areas that offer the highest return on member investments. They then will initiate the research process to identify and evaluate specific business processes, strategies and management practices, typically conducting hundreds of in-depth interviews with corporations, industry experts, management consultants and academic leaders. During the course of its research, a team generally analyzes and evaluates dozens of specific management practices in an attempt to isolate the five to 15 most important practices worthy of potential implementation by members, separating out demonstrated and proven business practices and disposing of those concepts, whether popular or conventional, that largely have failed.

  Executive Education

     We provide our executive education curriculum, which is based on our proprietary best practices research, to member companies worldwide. We deliver executive education services through two primary channels—general membership meetings and, in some programs, tailored on-site seminars. Our executive education provides lively, interactive forums for reinforcing our published best practices research studies.

  Research Briefs

     Members of most research programs may assign short-answer, customized research requests. Individual briefs may take the form of a literature search, vendor profile, data retrieval or original primary and secondary research, depending upon the need of the requesting member. Once initiated, each customized research effort takes from one to 20 business days to complete, depending on the depth of the information request, the type of research product desired and the time requirements of the member. Researchers typically begin their inquiry with a review of our proprietary research archives and then conduct a broad literature search to identify relevant background material and practices.

     Written research briefs generally contain three to five case studies or profiles of interviewed institutions, highlighting significant trends, successful practices and comparative responses to a range of questions. After we have completed and delivered the written brief to the requesting member, we make the best of these briefs accessible to other members through proprietary databases. Members are able to search, select, view and print research briefs directly from the research program web site at no additional charge.

     We believe that the research service of our research programs builds our proprietary databases, serves as an excellent marketing tool for attracting new members and encourages members to view us as a reliable and effective resource for primary research.

  Web-based Proprietary Databases

     Each research program maintains a proprietary database of best practices and, in some cases, quantitative survey data accessible only to members of the research program. We continually update our growing proprietary databases with new corporate practices, quantitative performance data and related information supplied by other members and derived by our researchers. We include all information and graphics generated in best practices research studies and customized research briefs in the databases and make them accessible to member executives and our staff.

     Since 1996, we have been offering our members internet access to research content and other services through password-protected web sites. We believe that the internet provides a convenient means for members to commission customized research briefs, browse and access the electronic library of research studies and graphics, review executive education modules and meeting schedules and communicate with our staff and other members.

Pricing

     Memberships in The Corporate Executive Board research programs are principally one-year, renewable agreements. Research memberships are generally payable by members at the beginning of the contract term. At December 31, 2001, the average price for a program membership was approximately $31,700. The actual price varies by size of member and by research program, and may be lower for charter memberships to new research programs. By spreading our costs across a broad membership and offering a largely standardized research product, we are able to charge fees that are a small fraction of the typical engagement fees of specialized research or consulting firms.

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     We offer an unconditional service guarantee to our members. At any time, a member may request a refund of their membership fee for a research program, which is provided on a pro rata basis relative to the remaining term of the membership. In 2001, members requested refunds for 13 memberships out of more than 3,500.

Sales and Marketing

     We market an integrated set of services, consisting of best practices research studies, executive education, customized research briefs and web-based access to our content database and decision support tools, for a fixed fee per research program. We believe that this marketing strategy highlights the value to members of our range of services and emphasizes the membership nature of our business model, actively engaging the membership and reinforcing members’ commitment to The Corporate Executive Board.

     The separation of responsibility for new membership sales and membership renewals reflects the varying difficulty and cost of the respective functions. New business development representatives are compensated with a base salary and variable, goal-based incentive bonuses and travel on average 60% of the time, conducting face-to-face meetings with senior executives at prospective member institutions. Member services representatives assume more of an in-house coordinating role, bringing the resources of programs to bear on pressing member needs.

Competition

     We currently have few direct competitors, and those that do exist generally compete only against a single research program. We compete indirectly against other professional information services providers, including management consulting firms, training and development companies, non-profit think tanks and research and database companies. We are not aware of any other entity that enables corporations to study as broad a range of the best corporate management practices for fixed, annual fees.

     We believe that the principal competitive factors in our market include quality and timeliness of research and analysis, reliable delivery, depth and quality of the membership network, ability to meet changing customer needs, superior service and affordably priced products. We believe we compete favorably with respect to each of these factors.

     The Advisory Board Company provides products and services to the health care industry that are similar to the types of products and services that we generally provide. We have entered into a noncompetition agreement with The Advisory Board Company and David Bradley, its former sole stockholder. The noncompetition agreement generally prohibits us from competing with The Advisory Board Company with respect to health care clients and issues and prohibits The Advisory Board Company and Mr. Bradley from competing with us with respect to non-health care clients and issues, other than products and services relating to advertising, magazines and newspapers, and government relations and lobbying activities. The agreement was amended in 2001 to extend through January 1, 2007.

Employees

     At December 31, 2001, we employed 818 persons. Of these employees, 768 were located at our headquarters in Washington, DC and 50 were located at our facilities in London, England. None of our employees are represented by a collective bargaining arrangement. We believe that our relations with our employees are favorable.

     We believe strongly in a culture of meritocracy, rewarding key contributors with opportunities for rapid professional growth and advancement as well as competitive compensation. Training is a critical job component for all of our employees, including industry analysis, economics, quantitative modeling, root-cause analysis and presentation skills.

Risk Factors

     In addition to the other information contained in this Form 10-K, you should carefully consider the following risk factors in evaluating us and our business.

We depend on renewals of our membership-based services.

     We derive most of our revenues from annual memberships for our products and services. Our prospects therefore depend on our ability to achieve and sustain high renewal rates on existing research programs and to enter into new membership arrangements. Failure to achieve high membership renewal rate levels would have a material adverse affect on our operating

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results. Our ability to secure membership renewals depends upon our ability to deliver consistent, high quality and timely research and analysis with respect to issues, developments and trends that members view as important. We cannot assure you that we will be able to sustain the necessary level of performance to achieve a high rate of membership renewals. Although we actively market our research programs throughout the year, historically more than 42% of all renewals have taken place in the fourth quarter of the year. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business.”

We cannot know in advance if new products will be successful.

     Our future success will depend on our ability to develop new research programs that address specific industry and business constituencies and the changing needs of our current and prospective members for information, analysis and advice. We cannot assure you that our efforts to introduce new research programs will be successful. The process of internally researching, developing, launching and gaining client acceptance of new research programs is time-consuming, expensive and inherently risky. Delays or failures during development or implementation, or lack of market acceptance, of new research programs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our business, financial condition and results of operations would be materially adversely affected if we were unable to develop and introduce successful new research programs or other new products, or to make enhancements to existing research programs in a timely manner in response to member requirements. See “Business—Products and Services.”

We may experience difficulties in anticipating market trends.

     Our future success also will depend upon our ability to anticipate rapidly changing market trends and to adapt our research and analysis to meet the changing information needs of our members. We may fail to continue to provide helpful and timely research and analysis of developments and trends in a manner that meets market needs. Any such failure would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The industry and business sectors that we analyze undergo frequent and often dramatic changes, including the introduction of new and the obsolescence of old products, shifting strategies and market positions of major industry participants and changing objectives and expectations of users of members’ products and services. This environment of rapid and continuous change presents significant challenges to our ability to provide our members with current and timely research and analysis on issues of importance. Meeting these challenges requires the commitment of substantial resources.

We must attract and retain a significant number of highly skilled employees.

     Our future success also will depend upon our ability to hire, train, motivate and retain a significant number of highly-skilled employees, particularly research analysts and sales and marketing staff. Our inability to do so would have a material adverse effect on our business. We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, intense competition for professional personnel from management consulting firms and other producers of research and analysis products and services. Many of these firms have substantially greater financial resources than we do to attract and compensate qualified personnel. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in attracting a sufficient number of highly-skilled employees in the future, or that we will be successful in training, motivating and retaining the employees we are able to hire. See “Business—Employees.”

We are restricted from selling our products and services to the health care industry.

     At the time of our initial public offering, we entered into an agreement with The Advisory Board Company that restricts us from selling our membership-based products and services to companies principally engaged in the health care business, although we may sell such products and services to non-health care divisions or subsidiaries of health care companies. The agreement has been extended through January 1, 2007. This restriction may limit our future growth opportunities.

Continued consolidation in the financial institution industry may adversely impact our business.

     A number of our research programs are oriented toward companies in the financial services industry. The financial services industry is continuing to experience substantial consolidation. This consolidation has resulted, and is expected to continue to result, in a reduction in the number of our financial institution members. We cannot assure you that this consolidation will not materially and adversely affect our results of operations. At December 31, 2001, less than 30% of our Contract Value was attributable to financial institution members, which include commercial banks, thrifts, credit unions, credit card issuers, mutual fund companies, consumer credit lenders, brokerage houses, private and trust banks and insurance companies. We calculate Contract Value as the aggregate annualized revenue attributed to all agreements in effect at a given time without regard to the remaining duration of any such agreement.

We may experience fluctuations in operating results.

     Our operating results may fluctuate significantly due to various factors, including the growth in and timing of new programs,

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the timing of the development, introduction and marketing of new products and services, the timing of executive education seminars, the timing of the hiring of research analysts and sales and marketing staff, changes in the spending patterns of our members, our accounts receivable collection experience, changes in market demand for research and analysis, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, competitive conditions in the industry and general economic conditions. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.”

We may be unable to protect our intellectual property rights.

     We rely on copyright laws, as well as nondisclosure and confidentiality arrangements, to protect our proprietary rights in our products and services. We cannot assure you that the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights will be adequate to deter misappropriation of our rights or that we will be able to detect unauthorized uses and take timely and effective steps to enforce our rights. If substantial and material unauthorized uses of our proprietary products and services were to occur, we would be required to engage in costly and time-consuming litigation to enforce our rights. We cannot assure you that we would prevail in such litigation. If others were able to use our intellectual property, our ability to charge our fees for our products and services would be adversely affected.

We may be exposed to litigation related to content.

     As a publisher and distributor of original research and analysis and user of third party content, we face potential liability for defamation, negligence and copyright and trademark infringement. Any such litigation, whether or not resulting in a judgment against us, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Third party content includes information created or provided by information services organizations and consultants whom we retain and may be delivered in writing, over the Internet or orally to clients.

We may be exposed to loss of revenue resulting from our unconditional service guarantee.

     We offer an unconditional service guarantee to our members. At any time, a member may request a refund of their membership fee for a research program, which is provided on a pro rata basis relative to the remaining term of the membership. Requests for refunds of membership fees by a significant number of our members could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Item 2. Properties.

     Our headquarters currently are located in approximately 170,000 square feet of office space in Washington, DC. The facilities accommodate research, marketing and sales, information technology, administration, graphic services and operations personnel. We believe that our existing and planned facilities will be adequate for our current needs and that additional facilities are available for lease to meet future needs.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

     From time to time, we are subject to ordinary routine litigation incidental to our normal business operations. We are not currently a party to, and our property is not subject to, any material legal proceedings.

Item 4. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.

     None.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters.

     Our common stock has been quoted on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol “EXBD” since our initial public offering on February 23, 1999. As of February 15, 2002, there were 29 stockholders of record of the common stock. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales prices per share of our common stock as reported on the Nasdaq National Market.

     We have not declared or paid any cash dividend on our common stock since the closing of our initial public offering. We do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. The timing and amount of future cash dividends, if any, would be determined by our Board of Directors and would depend upon our earnings, financial condition and cash requirements.

     We have adjusted all historical share and per share data in this Form 10-K to reflect our 2-for-1 stock split in September 2000.

Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

     The following table sets forth selected financial and operating data. The selected financial data presented below as of December 31, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, and for each of the years in the five-year period ended December 31, 2001, have been derived from our financial statements which have been audited by Arthur Andersen LLP, independent public accountants. You should read the selected financial data presented below in conjunction with our financial statements, the notes to our financial statements and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations’’ appearing elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

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(1)		Prior to our spin-off from The Advisory Board Company in October 1997, The Advisory Board Company entered into agreements with certain employees to repurchase outstanding stock options at fixed amounts. For background information on the spin-off, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations—Overview.” We assumed the obligations under these agreements in the spin-off to the extent they were attributable to our employees. We reflect the charges relating to these agreements as stock option repurchase expenses over the required employment period ended December 31, 1998. In addition, we substituted our stock options for The Advisory Board Company stock options in the spin-off. The terms of the stock option substitution resulted in compensation expense being charged for the intrinsic value of certain stock options. We reflect these charges as stock option expenses over the vesting period of the options. After calendar year 2001, we will recognize no additional compensation expense related to these substitution agreements. Furthermore, in December 1998, we and our selling stockholder at the time agreed to make certain payments in the aggregate amount of $2.4 million to selected employees under a special bonus plan. We recorded the special bonus plan charge of $2.4 million at the time of the commitment in December 1998. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation—Years Ended December 31, 1999, 2000 and 2001—Stock option and related expenses.”
(2)		For the years ended December 31, 2000 and 2001, we recognized $1.0 million and $1.1 million, respectively, in compensation expense reflecting additional Federal Insurance Corporation Act (“FICA”) taxes as a result of the taxable income that the employees recognized upon the exercise of common stock options, primarily in conjunction with the sale of

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		our common stock in the secondary offerings in February 2000 and in March and April 2001.
(3)		Prior to our initial public offering in February 1999, we had elected to be taxed under subchapter S of the Internal Revenue Code. In February 1999, we terminated our S corporation election and became subject to U.S. Federal and state income taxes at prevailing corporate rates. If we had elected to be taxed under subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code for U.S. Federal and state income tax purposes beginning January 1, 1997 and recorded income tax expense using an annual effective rate of 41.0%, pro forma net income (unaudited) and basic and diluted earnings per share (unaudited) would have been $0.7 million, $0.03 and $0.03, respectively, for 1997, $2.1 million, $0.09 and $0.07, respectively, for 1998, and $10.4 million, $0.39 and $0.32, respectively, for 1999.
(4)		For the year then ended. Client renewal rate is defined as the percentage of membership institutions renewed, adjusted to reflect reductions in membership institutions resulting from mergers and acquisitions of members.
(5)		For the year then ended. Subscription renewal rate is defined as the percentage of membership subscriptions renewed for the year, adjusted to reflect reductions in membership subscriptions resulting from mergers and acquisitions of members.
(6)		Aggregate annualized revenue attributed to all agreements in effect at a given date without regard to the remaining duration of any such agreement.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Overview

     We provide “best practices” research and analysis focusing on corporate strategy, operations and general management issues. Best practices research identifies and analyzes specific management initiatives, processes and strategies that have been determined to produce the best results in solving common business problems or challenges. For a fixed, annual fee, members of each research program have access to an integrated set of services, including best practices research studies, executive education seminars, customized research briefs and web-based access to the program’s content database and decision support tools.

     We were incorporated on September 11, 1997, under the laws of the State of Delaware. Our business was operated as a division of The Advisory Board Company, a Maryland corporation, until October 31, 1997 when the business was contributed to us and spun-off to The Advisory Board Company’s sole stockholder. In February 1999, 18,830,560 shares of our common stock were sold in an initial public offering. In February 2000 and in March and April 2001, 11,023,030 shares and 3,035,000 shares, respectively, of our common stock were sold in secondary public offerings. We did not directly receive any proceeds pursuant to the sales of our common stock. All of the shares sold in the foregoing offerings were sold by stockholders and option holders. However, we did receive cash from the exercise of common stock options in conjunction with the sale of our common stock. Subsequent to the sale of common stock in the secondary offering in February 2000, the former sole stockholder owns no shares of our common stock.

     Membership subscriptions, which are principally annually renewable agreements, are generally payable by members at the beginning of the contract term. Billings attributable to memberships in our research programs initially are recorded as deferred revenues and then recognized pro rata over the membership contract term. At any time, a member may request a refund of their membership fee for a research program, which is provided on a pro rata basis relative to the remaining term of the membership.

     Over the last three years, our revenues have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 34.2% from $53.0 million in 1998 to $128.1 million in 2001, while costs have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 24.8% from $50.2 million in 1998 to $97.5 million in 2001. The increase in revenues was primarily attributable to cross-selling additional subscriptions to existing members, adding new members, price increases and the introduction of new research programs. The increase in costs has been driven principally by the increase in the number of employees required to support subscription growth.

     One measure of our business is its annualized “Contract Value,” which we calculate as the aggregate annualized revenue attributed to all agreements in effect at a given point in time, without regard to the remaining duration of any such agreement. Our experience has been that a substantial portion of members renew subscriptions for an equal or higher level each year. Contract Value has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 31.3% over the past three years and was $138.5 million at December 31, 2001.

     Our operating costs and expenses consist of cost of services, member relations and marketing, general and administrative expenses, depreciation, and stock option and related expenses. Cost of services represents the costs associated with the production and delivery of our products and services, including compensation of research personnel and in-house faculty, the production of published materials, the organization of member meetings and all associated support services. Member relations and marketing expenses include the costs of acquiring new members, the costs of servicing and renewing existing members, compensation expense (including sales commissions), travel and all associated support services. General and administrative expenses include the costs of human resources and recruiting, finance and accounting, management information systems, facilities management, new product development and other administrative functions. Stock option and related expenses includes non-cash compensation expense related to certain stock option agreements in existence at the time of the spin-off from The Advisory Board Company and

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includes additional cash payroll taxes for compensation expense relating to the taxable income recognized by employees upon the exercise of non-qualified common stock options.

Results of Operations

     The following table sets forth certain financial data as a percentage of total revenues for the periods indicated:

Years Ended December 31, 1999, 2000 and 2001

     Revenues. Total revenues increased 34.9% from $70.8 million for 1999 to $95.5 million for 2000, and 34.2% to $128.1 million for 2001. The increase in revenues was attributable primarily to cross-selling additional subscriptions to existing members, adding new members, price increases and the introduction of new research programs. The average subscription price increased 6.9% in 1999, 6.0% in 2000 and 3.6% in 2001. We introduced two new research programs in 1999, three new research programs in 2000, and three new research programs in 2001.

     Cost of services. Cost of services increased 26.2% from $28.6 million for 1999 to $36.1 million for 2000, and 26.7% to $45.7 million for 2001. The increase in cost of services was principally due to increased research staffing and related compensation costs to support new research programs and an increase in short answer research and executive education services staffing to serve the growing membership base across all programs. Cost of services as a percentage of revenues decreased from 40.4% for 1999 to 37.8% for 2000 and to 35.7% for 2001. This decrease was attributable to the fixed nature of a portion of the production costs of best practices research studies, as these costs are not significantly affected by growth in the number of membership subscriptions.

     Gross profit trend. Historically, the gross profit margin (gross profit as a percentage of total revenues) has fluctuated based upon the growth in revenues offset by the costs of delivering best practices research studies, the timing of executive education seminars, the volume of customized research briefs and the hiring of personnel. Accordingly, the gross margin for the year ended December 31, 2001, may not be indicative of future results.

     Member relations and marketing. Member relations and marketing costs increased 36.8% from $15.5 million for 1999 to $21.2 million for 2000, and 42.3% to $30.2 million for 2001. The increase in member relations and marketing costs is primarily due to the increase in sales staff and related costs, the increase in commission expense associated with increased revenues, and the increase in member relations personnel and related costs to serve the expanding membership base. Member relations and marketing costs as a percentage of total revenues have increased during the period 1999 to 2001 as we have added member relations and marketing resources to serve the expanding membership base.

     General and administrative. General and administrative expenses increased 41.7% from $8.5 million for 1999 to $12.0 million for 2000, and 32.1% to $15.9 million for 2001. The increase in general and administrative expenses resulted principally from staffing increases in general management, human resources and recruiting, finance and accounting, management information systems, and facilities management to support our growth and additional consulting and training expenses associated with investments in management information software. Although general and administrative expenses increased during the period 1999 through 2001, general and administrative expenses have remained relatively consistent as a percentage of revenues during the period 1999 to 2001.

     Depreciation. Depreciation expense increased 95.2% from $1.3 million for 1999 to $2.6 million for 2000, and 71.5% to $4.4 million for 2001. The increase in depreciation expense was principally due to the additional investment in leasehold

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improvements for additional office space in Washington, D.C., and the purchase of computer equipment and software to support organizational growth.

     Stock option and related expenses. We recognized $0.4 million, $0.4 million, and $0.2 million for 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively, related to stock option agreements in existence at the time of the spin-off from The Advisory Board Company’s sole stockholder. In connection with the spin-off, we executed substitution agreements with each of our employees participating in The Advisory Board Company stock option plan. These substitution agreements resulted in compensation expense being recognized by us over the vesting period. After 2001, we will recognize no additional compensation expense related to these substitution agreements.

     We recognized $1.0 million and $1.1 million in compensation expense during the years ended December 31, 2000 and 2001, respectively, reflecting additional Federal Insurance Corporation Act (“FICA”) taxes as a result of the taxable income that the employees recognized upon the exercise of common stock options, primarily in conjunction with the sale of our common stock in the secondary offerings of common stock in February 2000 and in March and April 2001.

     Other income, net. Other income, net consists primarily of interest income earned on a portfolio of cash equivalents and marketable securities and the realized gain (loss) on the sale of marketable securities. During 2000, other income, net also included the realized loss on the write-off of property and equipment. Other income increased 103.1% from $1.1 million for 1999 to $2.3 million for 2000, and 89.3% to $4.3 million for 2001. The growth in other income, net was due primarily to the increase in interest income associated with the increased level of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities increased as a result of cash flows from operating activities and cash flows from financing activities further discussed in the liquidity and capital resources section below.

     Provision for income taxes. We recorded a provision for income taxes of $4.3 million, $9.5 million, and $13.3 million for 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively. Prior to February 22, 1999, we were treated as an S corporation for Federal income tax purposes and recognized income taxes only related to the District of Columbia. Just prior to our initial public offering, we terminated our S corporation status and are now subject to Federal and state income taxes at prevailing corporate rates. The difference in the effective income tax rates for 1999 and 2000 primarily reflects the termination of the S corporation status just prior to the initial public offering in February 1999 offset by the benefit of Federal income tax incentives associated with the location of our office facilities. If we had elected to be taxed under subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code for U.S. Federal and state income tax purposes beginning January 1, 1999, and recorded income tax expense using an annual effective rate of 41.0%, pro forma net income and basic and diluted earnings per share would have been $10.4 million, $0.39 and $0.32 for 1999. The difference in the effective income tax rates for 2000 and 2001 primarily reflects the increase in the amount of tax-exempt interest income earned on the portfolio of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and in the increased benefit from Federal income tax incentives associated with the location of our office facilities.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

     Cash flows from operating activities. We have financed our operations to date through funds generated from operating activities. Membership subscriptions, which are principally annually renewable agreements, are generally payable by members at the beginning of the contract term. The combination of revenue growth and advance payment of membership subscriptions has historically resulted in net positive cash flows provided by operating activities. We generated net cash flows from operating activities of $23.7 million, $38.7 million, and $52.8 million for 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively. For 1999, 2000 and 2001, operating cash flows were generated within the period principally by net income, the utilization of tax benefits created by the exercise of common stock options, and the growth in deferred revenues, partially offset by the growth in membership fees receivable. As of December 31, 2000 and 2001, we had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $69.4 million and $132.5 million, respectively. We expect that out current cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balances and anticipated net positive cash flows from operations will satisfy working capital, financing, and capital expenditure requirements for the next twelve months.

     Cash flows from investing activities. We used net cash flows in investing activities of $11.5 million, $44.5 million, and $38.6 million during the years ended December 31, 1999, 2000, and 2001, respectively. During 1999, 2000, and 2001, investing cash flows were used within the period to purchase available-for-sale marketable securities and to purchase leasehold improvements for additional office space in Washington, D.C., computer equipment and software. During 1999, we also received $6.5 million for the repayment of a note receivable from our previous sole stockholder.

     Cash flows from financing activities. We used net cash flows in financing activities of $4.7 million during the year ended December 31, 1999. We generated net cash flows from financing activities of $5.5 million and $14.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2000 and 2001, respectively. Net cash flows used in financing activities during 1999 were primarily

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attributable to a distribution to our previous sole stockholder of $4.0 million to pay income taxes on our S corporation earnings and to distribute our estimated undistributed taxed or taxable earnings. During 1999, we also paid $1.7 million in expenses related to our initial public offering, which is treated for accounting purposes as a distribution to our previous sole stockholder. For the years ended December 31, 2000 and 2001, cash flows were generated within the periods by the receipt of cash for the exercise of stock options associated with the sale of our common stock.

     We lease office facilities in the United States and the United Kingdom expiring on various dates over the next eleven years. Certain lease agreements include provisions for rental escalations based on the Consumer Price Index and require us to pay for executory costs such as taxes and insurance. Future minimum rental payments under non-cancelable operating leases, excluding executory costs, are $50.7 million. We have entered into a $10.0 million, unsecured loan agreement, expiring May 2002, with a commercial bank that provides for a revolving line of credit facility under which we may from time to time borrow, repay and re-borrow funds. There have been no borrowings under the loan agreement. In addition, we have entered into a $1.3 million letter of credit agreement, expiring September 2003, with a commercial bank to provide a security deposit for our headquarters office lease. We pledged certain assets as collateral under the letter of credit agreement.

     At December 31, 2000 and 2001, we have no off-balance sheet financing or other arrangements with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships (such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities) established for purposes of facilitating off-balance sheet financing or other debt arrangements or for other contractually narrow or limited purposes.

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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.

     We are exposed to interest rate risk primarily through our portfolio of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, which is designed for safety of principal and liquidity. Cash and cash equivalents consist of highly liquid U.S. government and U.S. Treasury obligations with maturities of less than three months. Marketable securities consist primarily of United States Treasury notes and bonds and Washington, D.C. tax exempt notes and bonds. We perform periodic evaluations of the relative credit ratings related to the cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. This portfolio is subject to inherent interest rate risk as investments mature and are re-invested at current market interest rates. We currently do not use derivative financial instruments to adjust our portfolio risk or income profile.

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Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

To the Stockholders of The Corporate Executive Board Company:

     We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of The Corporate Executive Board Company as of December 31, 2000 and 2001, and the related statements of income, stockholders’ equity (deficit) and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2001. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.

     We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

     In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of The Corporate Executive Board Company as of December 31, 2000 and 2001, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2001, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.

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THE CORPORATE EXECUTIVE BOARD COMPANY

BALANCE SHEETS
(In thousands, except share amounts)

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

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THE CORPORATE EXECUTIVE BOARD COMPANY

STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(In thousands, except per share amounts)

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

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THE CORPORATE EXECUTIVE BOARD COMPANY

STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(In thousands)

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

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THE CORPORATE EXECUTIVE BOARD COMPANY

STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT)

For the years ended December 31, 1999, 2000, and 2001
(In thousands, except share amounts)