Guide
How to read a 10-K filing (without losing 3 hours of your life)
A 10-K is the annual report every US public company files with the SEC. It's the highest-fidelity source on the company — and at 200+ pages, it can be intimidating. Here's the 20-minute version that gets you 90% of the signal.
Item 1: Business
Skip the marketing intro paragraph. Jump to revenue-by-segment and revenue-by-geography. This tells you what the company actually sells and where the money comes from. If a company makes 70% of revenue from one product line, that's your story.
Item 1A: Risk Factors
Read the first three risks — they're ordered by how seriously management takes them. The rest is mostly boilerplate (cybersecurity, weather, FX). New risks year-over-year are gold; they signal what changed in management's worldview.
Item 7: MD&A (Management's Discussion & Analysis)
This is the narrative version of the financials. Read it AFTER you read Item 8 so you can spot what management is and isn't explaining. Look for changes in tone vs the prior year's 10-K — euphemisms like 'temporary headwinds' often hide structural problems.
Item 8: Financial Statements
Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement. Compare 3 years side by side. The cash flow statement is the truth-teller — operating cash flow that lags net income for two consecutive years is a yellow flag.
Notes to the financials
The footnotes are where the interesting stuff lives: stock-based compensation magnitude, revenue-recognition policy changes, segment-level margins, contingent liabilities, related-party transactions. Spend 5 minutes here.
ActaClear surfaces every 10-K section into a queryable structure. You can ask 'what changed in this year's risk factors vs last year' and get a cited answer.
FAQs
How is a 10-K different from an annual report?
The 10-K is the SEC-filed regulatory document — long, dense, comprehensive. The annual report sent to shareholders is usually a glossy summary plus the 10-K bound at the back. The 10-K is the source of truth.
When are 10-Ks filed?
Large accelerated filers: within 60 days of fiscal year end. Accelerated filers: 75 days. All others: 90 days. Most calendar-year companies file in February or early March.
Are 10-Ks audited?
Yes. The financial statements (Item 8) are audited by a PCAOB-registered auditor whose opinion is included near the front of the financials section.
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