Form 10-Q

Form 10-Q is basically a form that the Securities and Exchange Commission needs public entities and private entities to submit on a quarterly basis. It consists of equity related statements as well as unaudited finance statements. Even though it is very similar to the report prepared for shareholders, the form consists of much more data and information, like compensation for executive and details of the structure of the organization. All the public entities and any private trading entity that has over five hundred shareholders and ten million dollars in terms of assets have to file Form 10-Q. Entities only submit three of the 10-Q forms every year since the figures for final quarter are incorporated in form 10-K. Form 10-Q also consists of management related discussion and a list of events that take place with the entity (for example acquisition or splitting of stock).

The form essentially provides reports for a given quarter and has been made mandatory by the U.S. SEC. The reports included in the form usually compare the last quarter with the existing one and previous year’s quarter to the current year’s quarter. The reason why Securities and Exchange Commission introduced this form was that they wanted investors to be well-informed about the company and its activities. It is important to file Form 10-Q within forty days for accelerated form filers and large accelerated form filers or forty five days after the fiscal quarter ends for the registrants.

Form 10-Q Background

It was in the month of September in 2002 that the SEC gave an approval to the rule, which altered the deadlines for Form 10-Q and Form 10-K for the accelerated form filers i.e. those issuers who have a float of a minimum of seventy-five million dollars that has been subjected to the reporting related needs of the Exchange Act for a minimum of twelve months and who have previously filed a minimum of one annual report and those who do not have the eligibility of filing their annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q utilizing disclosure related requirements. In the month of December in 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted for adoption of amendments, which could help in creating a new section of ‘large accelerated filers’ that incorporated entities with a public float of seven hundred million dollars or more.