How to read SEC filings as a news consumer
10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-1 — the most important documents in financial news are public, free, and not as scary as they look. Here's how to find what you need in 5 minutes.
SEC filings are the most important primary-source documents in business journalism — and nearly all news coverage of public companies is downstream of them. They’re free to access at SEC EDGAR and not as intimidating as they look.
The five filing types that matter
10-K — Annual report. The single most comprehensive document a public company produces. Includes: business description, risk factors (this section is the most important and most overlooked), financial statements, management discussion. ~100-300 pages but you don’t need to read all of it.
10-Q — Quarterly report. Shorter version of the 10-K, filed three times a year (the fourth quarter is wrapped into the 10-K). Most important for tracking quarter-over-quarter changes.
8-K — Current report. Filed when something material happens between scheduled reports — CEO leaves, acquisition announced, major lawsuit, restated earnings. These are the breaking-news documents.
S-1 — IPO registration. Filed before a company goes public. Contains the most detailed first-time-public disclosure a company will ever make.
Proxy statement (DEF 14A) — Annual document for shareholder votes. Most useful section: executive compensation disclosures.
How to find a filing in 60 seconds
1. Go to SEC EDGAR 2. Search the company name or ticker 3. Filter by filing type (10-K, 8-K, etc.) 4. Click the most recent filing — modern filings have a navigation pane and table of contents
The two sections to always read
Risk factors (10-K, 10-Q, S-1): The legally-required “everything that could go wrong” section. Companies disclose risks here that they don’t advertise elsewhere — pending lawsuits, regulatory exposure, customer concentration, going-concern doubts. New disclosures or strengthened language between filings is a strong signal of internal concern.
Subsequent events / item 9.01 in 8-Ks: Recent material events the company is required to disclose. This is where you find the “we lost our largest customer” line that doesn’t make it into the press release.
What partisan / breathless coverage misses
Financial-news outlets routinely quote SEC filings selectively. Read the actual filing instead of just the headline. The phrase “the company disclosed” usually points to something findable in the SEC document — find it, read the actual disclosure, judge whether the headline matches.
When companies say something that contradicts a filing
If a CEO says one thing publicly and the 10-K says something materially different, that’s a securities-disclosure issue. Major investigative reporting often hangs on this exact gap. The 10-K is the legally-binding statement; the press release isn’t.
Prism Lens on any business article will flag where the article’s claims are unverifiable against the underlying primary sources — useful for catching the cases where coverage diverges from the actual filing.
Related: Primary source · Fact-checking · How to navigate a FOIA request.