Glossary
10-Q
The quarterly report a US public company files with the SEC, covering three months and lighter than the annual 10-K.
Three of these arrive each year, one after each of the first three quarters. The fourth quarter gets no 10-Q of its own, because the annual 10-K covers the full year and that last quarter with it. So a company files three 10-Qs and one 10-K, four documents, on a twelve month cycle.
The figures in a 10-Q are reviewed by the auditor rather than fully audited, which is a lower bar and a deliberate trade for speed. It is also shorter: no full risk factor list unless something changed, and much less narrative wrapped around the numbers.
It is the filing behind the quarterly headlines. When a report says a company's revenue rose in the third quarter, the source of that figure is a 10-Q, usually published within about forty days of the quarter closing.
Related terms
- 10-KThe annual report a US public company files with the SEC, holding its audited financial statements and its own list of what could go wrong.
- Earnings ReportA company's quarterly public account of what it earned and spent, filed with regulators and released on a set date.
- Earnings CallThe scheduled conference call where a company's executives discuss the quarter just reported and take questions from analysts.
- RevenueAll the money a company brought in from selling its products and services, before any costs are subtracted.
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