Legal Definitions - 10-Q

A Form 10-Q is a mandatory financial report that publicly traded companies in the United States must submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) every quarter. This report provides an interim look at a company's financial performance and condition, including its revenues, expenses, profits, and cash flow, for the most recent three-month period. Unlike the more comprehensive annual 10-K report, the information in a 10-Q is generally unaudited, meaning it has not been independently verified by an accounting firm. It offers investors and the public a regular, timely update on a company's health between its more detailed yearly filings.

• Example 1: Quarterly Performance Update
  TechInnovate Inc., a publicly traded software company, just completed its second fiscal quarter. To comply with SEC regulations, the company's finance department compiles a Form 10-Q detailing its sales figures, operating costs, and net income for April, May, and June. This report is then filed with the SEC, allowing investors to see how the company performed during that specific three-month period before the full annual audit.

  This example illustrates how a registered corporation files an unaudited financial report quarterly with the SEC to provide a regular update on its financial performance.

• Example 2: Investor Monitoring
  An individual investor, Sarah, owns shares in a retail chain, FashionForward Corp. She wants to monitor the company's progress throughout the year, especially after the holiday shopping season. Instead of waiting for the annual report, Sarah checks FashionForward's latest Form 10-Q, which was filed in February, to see its financial results for the quarter ending December 31st. This allows her to assess the company's recent sales trends and profitability without the delay of a full audit.

  This demonstrates how the quarterly and unaudited nature of the 10-Q provides timely financial updates for investors, enabling them to track a company's performance more frequently than just annually.

• Example 3: Disclosure of Interim Events
  During the third quarter, GreenEnergy Solutions, a publicly traded renewable energy firm, experienced an unexpected increase in raw material costs. While not a full annual report, the company's upcoming Form 10-Q for that quarter will include updated financial statements reflecting these higher costs and may also contain management's discussion and analysis explaining the impact on their profitability. This ensures that even significant interim financial changes are disclosed to the public in a timely manner, even if not yet fully audited.

  This highlights how the 10-Q serves as a vehicle for a registered corporation to provide unaudited financial information quarterly to the SEC, reflecting recent operational impacts and offering insights into the company's current financial state.