Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Accelerated filer: A type of company that has to file their financial reports faster than other companies. To be an accelerated filer, a company must have a certain amount of money that people can buy shares in (between $75 million and $700 million), have been filing reports for at least a year, and have filed at least one big report before. They have to file their big report (called a Form 10-K) within 75 days and their smaller report (called a Form 10-Q) within 40 days.
An accelerated filer is a type of company that has to meet shorter deadlines to file their periodic reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has established specific requirements that a company must meet to qualify as an accelerated filer.
According to SEC Rule 12b-2, a company must have a public float of between $75 million and $700 million, have been filing periodic reports for at least 12 months, have previously filed at least one annual report (such as Form 10-K), and not be a smaller reporting company.
Once a company meets these requirements, they have 75 days to file their Form 10-K and 40 days to file their Form 10-Q.
Company XYZ has a public float of $500 million and has been filing periodic reports for the past 18 months. They have previously filed their annual report (Form 10-K) and are not considered a smaller reporting company. Therefore, they meet the requirements to be classified as an accelerated filer.
As an accelerated filer, Company XYZ must file their Form 10-K within 75 days of the end of their fiscal year and their Form 10-Q within 40 days of the end of each fiscal quarter.
This example illustrates how a company can qualify as an accelerated filer and the specific deadlines they must meet for filing their periodic reports.