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SEC Form 10-K is a report that public companies are required to file annually after the fourth fiscal quarter with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In accordance with The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, SEC Form 10-K needs to be filed with the SEC within a certain amount of time after the end of the fiscal year based on the company’s filer status: 60 days for Large Accelerated filers, 75 days for Accelerated filers and 90 days for all other filers.

Similar to the annual report, SEC Form 10-K provides investors with a comprehensive view of the company’s financial position and additional business disclosures, such as key operational details, market risks and corporate governance. All Form 10-Ks filed with the SEC are also publicly available on the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) online filing system.

SEC Form 10-Q is a performance report that public companies are required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a quarterly basis for the first three quarters of the fiscal year. In accordance with The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, it provides investors with an ongoing, comprehensive view of a company’s financial position during the year, including unaudited financial statements. Each quarterly report generally compares the prior quarter to the current one, and the same quarter last year to the current one.

A company’s Form 10-Q must also be provided to any shareholder upon request, though are usually made available on the website. All Form 10-Qs filed with the SEC are also publicly available on the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) online filing system.

SEC Form 20-F is the primary disclosure document required of foreign private issuers listing equity shares on exchanges in the United States. Form 20-F is most often filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an annual report but is also used to register classes of securities. Companies with fewer than 50% of its voting shares held by U.S. investors can file this form.

Under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, Form 20-F is meant to help standardize reporting requirements so investors can evaluate foreign-based companies’ equities alongside U.S.-based companies’ equities. Accordingly, Form 20-F disclosures are very similar to those required of U.S. issuers, reporting information such as key operational details, market risks, corporate governance and financial statements.

However, there are two main differences. First, if a foreign private issuer prepares financial statements in accordance with home-country accounting standards or, not to IASB (International Accounting Standards Board) and IFRS (International Accounting Standards Board International Financial Reporting Standards), foreign private issuer must also furnish reconciliation with US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). Second, foreign private issuers are allowed to disclose executive compensation in aggregate and are not required to provide a Compensation Discussion & Analysis.

Form 20-F is filed and displayed publicly on the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval) system.

SEC Form 6-K is submitted by specific foreign private issuers to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to keep investors aware of information the issuers distribute outside of the United States.

The only SEC submission required of foreign issuers outside of annual reports, the Form 6-K or Exchange Act Form, aims to ensure cross-border transparency of information and investor protection. Form 6-K is used to report any material information that a foreign issuer makes public in its home country, files publicly with its home country stock exchange, or distributes to its security holders.

Form 6-K also serves as a means of reporting any other significant information arising between annual reports and often includes copies of the foreign issuer’s latest financial reports, like income statements, cash-flow statements and balance sheets.

Foreign issuers submit Form 6-K to the SEC electronically. It’s displayed publicly using the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) computer system for the receipt, acceptance, review and dissemination of documents submitted in electronic format to the Commission. A record that shows “6-K/A” is an amended Form 6-K, submitted when material information has changed. For support and additional information, explore our solutions for Health Plan Regulated Communications.

Whenever a U.S. public company experiences any event of importance to shareholders or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whether a major material event or significant corporate change, Form 8-K must be filed with the SEC within four business days. The form gives the name and description of the events and includes relevant exhibits, like press releases, financial statements and data tables. It serves as an update to Form 10-Q quarterly reports and Form 10-K annual reports that the company already has on file with the SEC.

In compliance with The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Form 8-K announces events—like an acquisition, bankruptcy, removal of a director or change in the fiscal year—on a current, as-needed basis. The wide variety of events that warrant filing the form can be related to a company’s business and operations, accounting and finances, market performance and activities, corporate leadership, asset-backed securities, regulation fair disclosure (FD) and other areas of interest.

Form 8-K filings are displayed publicly on the SEC’s EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) computer system for the receipt, acceptance, review and dissemination of documents submitted in electronic format to the Commission. Most large companies also make their Form 8-Ks available on their own websites, in the Investor Relations or similarly titled section. For support and additional information, explore our solutions for Health Plan Regulated Communications.

GAAP is an acronym for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the standard accounting recording and reporting procedures used to compile financial statements to meet U.S. industry standards and regulations. The US GAAP aims to ensure consistency in financial reporting so that investors can better assess financial statements for investment purposes.

Through complex guidelines, GAAP sets out rules covering the fine details of financial statements, from balance sheet classification to revenue recognition. These guidelines are codified in the GAAP Taxonomy Architecture, which serves as the basis for XBRL.

Some financial accounting inconsistencies remain, however. Although U.S. companies follow GAAP rules, other countries apply London-based International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This gap in standards affects global business practices, from accounting to stock market valuations.

Efforts are currently underway by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt IFRS standards and resolve conflicts and confusion in international financial reporting in cooperation with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). For support and information, explore resources here.