Question

The SEC is an independent, non partisan quasi-judicial agency that is responsible for administering the federal securities laws. Publicly traded companies must file a variety of forms electronically through the EDGAR system. The primary purpose of this is for fairness and accessibility. Visit the SEC website (www.sec.com) looking under the link Description of forms.

• Describe the form 8-K, 10-K, and 10Q. Note what these represent and why they are required?
• Under Company Filings search for the most recent 10-K of Coca-Cola. Who was the auditor? What kind of report was issued? Were there any qualifications? What was the opinion about the internal controls?

Answer 1

Form 8 K- This is used by US companies so as to notify the investors about anything happened in the company, this form contains the curret information that the shareholders of the company should know about. All public companies in USA need to file form 8 K with SEC under the act of SEC 1934. Companies have four business days to file the form 8 K.

Form 10 K- This is one of the most important forms that should be filed by the companies in the USA. This form contains the summary of a company's financial performance. This form contains more information rather than Annual report of the company, it should be submitted to the SEC. This form is used by the investors for taking investing decisions.

Five sections of form 10 K: Are as following-

1. Business
2. Risk factor
3. Selected financial data
4. Management's discussions
5. Financial statement and supplementary data

Form 10 Q- This is the quarterly report of company's performance that should be submitted by the US public companies to the SEC every quarter. Unaudited financial statements are shown in form 10 Q so that company's performance can be known time to time.