The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 requires publicly held companies to file periodic financial disclosures as updates of their economic activity. The three basic forms used for this updating are Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and Form 8-K. Required:Describe the information contained in each of the three basic forms noted above.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Form 10-K: Form 10-K must be filed within 60 days after the end of the company's fiscal year-end for a large accelerated filer, 75 days after year-end for accelerated filers and 90 days after year-end for non-accelerated filer. Although the report is broken into four parts, the general format is similar to the company's annual report. Parts I, II, and III contain the financial statements, management discussion and analysis, management report on internal control, auditor's report, and condensed financial information disclosures, often incorporated by reference to the annual report. Part IV contains additional schedules and exhibits. However, Form 10-K differs from the annual report by providing specific information relevant to the security holders, discussion of any disagreements with external auditors, management compensation and major ownership blocks, and schedules detailing selected asset and liability accounts including accounts receivable, property, plant, and equipment, the company's investments in other enterprises, and indebtedness of the company and its affiliates.
 
Form 10-Q: Form 10-Q is the interim report of the SEC. It is due within 40 days after the end of each quarter (except the fourth quarter when the 10-K is issued) for all accelerated filers and 45 days after the end of each quarter for non-accelerated filers. Part I of Form 10-Q includes comparative financial statements prepared in accordance with APB Opinion No. 28, but these interim statements need not be audited. Essentially the company provides financial statements for the most recent quarter, cumulative statements from the beginning of the fiscal period, and comparative statements for the preceding fiscal year. Part II of Form 10-Q is an update on significant matters occurring since the last quarter. These include new legal proceedings, changes in the rights of securities, defaults on senior securities, increases or decreases in the number of securities outstanding, and other materially important events affecting security holders.
 
Form 8-K: Form 8-K is used to disclose unscheduled material events. This form is due with 4 days after the occurrence of a "triggering event". The purpose of Form 8-K is to provide public disclosure of these significant events on a relatively contemporaneous basis.