Checklist for Reviewing a 10-K or 10-Q

The practical point: a 10-K is 200-400 pages, and the sections that matter most take about 60 minutes to read. Most investors read filings inefficiently (or skip them entirely). The fix is a priority-ordered workflow that extracts 80% of the signal in 20% of the time.

Why a Systematic 10-K/10-Q Review Matters

SEC filings contain forward-looking information that earnings calls often obscure. Filings with higher linguistic complexity (Fog Index above 19.4) in the MD&A section show 4.7% lower earnings persistence compared to more readable filings (Li, 2008). That complexity is frequently intentional: management increases word count and sentence length when performance deteriorates.

Why this matters: companies file 10-Ks annually (within 60-90 days of fiscal year-end, depending on filer size) and 10-Qs quarterly (within 40-45 days). Missing a material disclosure in these filings means you're relying on secondhand summaries with their own biases.

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The 10-K Structure (Items 1-15)

A 10-K contains 15 required items across four parts. Here's the full map:

Part I (Business Context)

• Item 1: Business description
• Item 1A: Risk Factors
• Item 1B: Unresolved Staff Comments
• Item 1C: Cybersecurity (new as of 2023)
• Item 2: Properties
• Item 3: Legal Proceedings
• Item 4: Mine Safety Disclosures

Part II (Financials)

• Item 5: Market for Registrant's Common Equity
• Item 6: Reserved (formerly Selected Financial Data)
• Item 7: Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)
• Item 7A: Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
• Item 8: Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
• Item 9: Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants
• Item 9A: Controls and Procedures

Part III (Governance)

• Items 10-14: Directors, executive compensation, ownership, related transactions

Part IV (Exhibits)

• Item 15: Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

The point is: you don't need all 15 items. For equity investing, Items 1A, 7, 8, and 9A contain roughly 85% of decision-relevant information.

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Priority Sections for Equity Investors

High-priority (read every filing)

1. Item 1A: Risk Factors - Companies must disclose material risks. Year-over-year word count increases of >15% correlate with deteriorating business conditions. New risks added mid-year (in 10-Qs) often signal emerging problems.

2. Item 7: MD&A - Management explains operating results, liquidity, and capital resources. Watch for vague language replacing specific guidance, and compare explanations against actual numbers.

3. Item 8: Financial Statement Notes - The notes (not the statements themselves) contain the detail. Priority notes include: revenue recognition policies, segment reporting, debt maturities, lease obligations, and goodwill impairment testing.

4. Item 9A: Controls and Procedures - Material weaknesses in internal controls precede restatements 34% more often than clean control opinions.

Medium-priority (scan annually)

• Item 1: Business (for business model changes)
• Item 5: Stock repurchase activity and dividend restrictions
• Item 7A: Interest rate and FX exposure (for capital-intensive businesses)

Lower-priority (reference as needed)

• Items 2-4: Properties, legal, mine safety (unless sector-specific)
• Items 10-14: Governance (check proxy statement instead for compensation details)

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Time-Efficient Reading Order (The 60-Minute Workflow)

Most investors read filings front-to-back. That's inefficient. Here's a priority-ordered approach:

Minutes 0-5: Filing metadata check

• Confirm filing date (filings in the final 5 days of the deadline window correlate with 2.1% more negative surprises)
• Check for any 8-K amendments filed alongside
• Note auditor identity and any auditor changes

Minutes 5-20: Financial statement notes (Item 8)

• Revenue recognition (ASC 606 disclosures): look for contract asset/liability changes
• Segment data: calculate segment margins, flag >100 bps annual compression
• Debt schedule: identify maturities within 24 months as refinancing risk
• Goodwill: fair value cushion <10% indicates elevated impairment risk

Minutes 20-40: MD&A (Item 7)

• Compare management's narrative against the numbers you just reviewed
• Highlight directional language changes from prior period
• Note any new metrics introduced or old metrics discontinued (metric changes are often strategic)

Minutes 40-50: Risk factors (Item 1A)

• Read new risks first (compare against prior filing)
• Calculate total word count; increases >15% year-over-year warrant deeper review
• Flag regulatory, customer concentration, and liquidity risks

Minutes 50-60: Controls and quick governance scan

• Item 9A: Any material weakness or significant deficiency?
• Skim Item 1 for business model changes
• Check executive departures in any recent 8-Ks

Why this matters: this sequence builds context before narrative. You read the numbers first, then evaluate whether management's explanation matches.

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What to Compare Year-Over-Year

Trend analysis beats point-in-time reading. Build these YoY comparisons:

The point is: YoY changes reveal trajectory. Absolute numbers reveal current state. You need both.

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Footnotes That Matter Most

Footnotes are where companies bury material information. Prioritize:

1. Revenue recognition - Changes in timing, judgment, or contract modifications
2. Segment reporting - Reclassifications that obscure deterioration
3. Related party transactions - Conflicts of interest disclosures
4. Subsequent events - Material events between period-end and filing date
5. Contingent liabilities - Probability and magnitude of potential obligations
6. Stock-based compensation - Dilution and vesting acceleration terms

Why this matters: in Enron's 2000 10-K, related party transactions with SPEs were disclosed in footnotes but required careful reading to identify the magnitude of off-balance-sheet obligations.

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Risk Factors Analysis (Reading Between the Lines)

Risk factors are boilerplate until they change. Your workflow:

1. Download prior year's Item 1A and current year's
2. Run a diff (or manually compare section headers)
3. Flag additions - New risks are often the most informative
4. Note deletions - Removed risks may indicate resolved issues or strategic de-emphasis
5. Measure expansion - Risks with substantially more detail often reflect heightened concern

Common risk categories to track:

• Customer concentration (>10% single customer is material)
• Regulatory changes
• Supply chain dependencies
• Debt covenant compliance
• Currency and interest rate exposure

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Worked Example: 60-Minute 10-K Review (Industrial Company)

Your situation: You're evaluating a position in a mid-cap industrial company (market cap $8.2 billion) after its 10-K release.

Minutes 0-5: Filing check You confirm the 10-K filed on day 58 of the 60-day window (large accelerated filer). No same-day 8-K. Auditor unchanged.

Minutes 5-20: Notes analysis

• Segment margins: Equipment 12.4% (down from 14.1% prior year, -170 bps)
• Debt maturity: $450M due in 18 months, undrawn revolver of $600M
• Goodwill impairment testing: Fair value exceeds carrying value by 8% (below 10% threshold)
• Revenue recognition: No policy changes noted

You flag the segment margin compression and tight goodwill cushion.

Minutes 20-40: MD&A review Management attributes margin compression to "supply chain normalization" and "strategic investments." You note they discontinued reporting backlog-to-revenue ratio (previously 1.4x, now unreported). Liquidity section confirms the debt maturity but emphasizes "strong access to capital markets."

Minutes 40-50: Risk factors Item 1A word count: 18,400 words (prior year: 15,200 words), a 21% increase. New risk added: "Dependence on government contracts subject to continuing resolutions and potential sequestration." Customer concentration: top customer now 14% of revenue (previously 11%).

Minutes 50-60: Controls and 8-K check No material weaknesses. Recent 8-K shows CFO departure "to pursue other opportunities" (no successor named).

Your assessment: The filing reveals three concerns (segment margin compression, goodwill cushion, CFO departure) that weren't visible from the earnings call. You reduce your price target by 15% based on margin trajectory and add a thesis-invalidation trigger: if the next 10-Q shows Equipment segment margin below 11%, you exit.

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Implementation Checklist (Tiered by ROI)

Essential (do for every 10-K/10-Q)

• Check filing timing relative to deadline
• Read financial statement notes (revenue, segments, debt, goodwill)
• Compare risk factor word count YoY
• Verify controls opinion is clean

High-impact (do for positions >3% of portfolio)

• Build segment margin time series (8 quarters minimum)
• Calculate days sales outstanding trend
• Map debt maturities against cash flow
• Read full MD&A with prior period comparison

Situational (when red flags appear)

• Run detailed risk factor diff against prior year
• Review related 8-Ks for management changes
• Check proxy statement for unusual compensation arrangements
• Verify auditor tenure and any opinion modifications

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The durable lesson

The durable lesson: a 10-K review is not about reading everything. It's about reading the right sections in the right order, with explicit YoY comparisons and quantified thresholds for concern. The 60-minute workflow (notes, then MD&A, then risks, then controls) builds context before narrative, catching disclosures that management would prefer you overlook.