10-K / 8-K filing.
In plain English
A 10-K is the comprehensive annual report public companies file with the SEC, containing audited financial statements, a description of the business, and a discussion of risk factors. An 8-K is a current report, filed within a few business days of a specified triggering event such as an executive departure, a completed acquisition, a bankruptcy, or the release of earnings. Between them sits the 10-Q, the lighter quarterly report with unaudited figures. All three are public and free on the SEC EDGAR system, which is the same source professionals use. The 10-K is where the footnotes, segment detail, and legal proceedings live, and that is often the most useful material in the document.
01Why it matters
Every number a headline quotes about a public company traces back to these filings, and reading the primary document costs nothing and removes a layer of interpretation.
02The math, step by step
Say a company announces a chief executive change on a Tuesday. The 8-K appears within the required window, naming the departure and any severance terms. The following annual 10-K then shows the full-year compensation figures in context, with the audited statements behind them.
Illustrative example. The amounts here are hypothetical, chosen to show how the math works, not real quoted rates or figures.
03What this is NOT
It is not the same document. The shareholder annual report is a designed summary with a letter from management. The 10-K is the filing made with the SEC, includes the risk factors and footnotes, and carries legal liability for what it says.
04Receipts
Every figure on this page is sourced to a primary document. Tap to open the original.
Plain-English answers from our glossary. Receipts included. Never advice.
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