Chapter 19
SEC Filings
If a controller works for a publicly held company, then there will be a multitude of ongoing report filings that are mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Depending upon the size of the company and its activities, it may be necessary to have an entire group within the accounting department whose sole concern is this reporting. No matter who creates and files the reports, the controller will likely be deeply involved in this process.
This chapter describes the three most commonly filed reports, Form 8-K for undisclosed events, the Form 10-K annual report, and the Form 10-Q quarterly report. In addition, we cover several types of stock registration documents, as well as how to pay filing fees to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Securities attorneys are responsible for creating stock registration documents, but they will rely heavily upon information prepared by the accounting department.
Form 8-K
A public company is required to file Form 8-K to report a material, undisclosed event. The form must be filed within four business days of the event. If the event occurs on a weekend or holiday, then the four-day rule shall begin on the next business day thereafter. A moderately active company will find itself filing this form quite frequently, possibly more than all other forms combined.
The SEC defines a number of types of material events that must be reported in a Form 8-K; they are described in the following table. For the more common Form ...
