SEC filings, explained
Guides to the documents behind every market headline. Annual reports, insider trades, ownership stakes and the system that publishes them. Each guide links straight to live filing data.
Financial metrics, explained
Open the glossary →84 figures from revenue to ROIC and cash conversion cycle: what each measures, how it is calculated, and how to read it.
Company reports
7What is a 10-K?A 10-K is the audited annual report public companies file with the SEC. What it contains, when it is due, and how to read one section by section.Read the guide →What is a 10-Q?A 10-Q is the quarterly report public companies file with the SEC. What it contains, how it differs from the 10-K, and its 40- and 45-day deadlines.Read the guide →What is an 8-K?An 8-K is the SEC current report companies file within four business days of major events: earnings, executive departures, deals, auditor changes and more.Read the guide →8-K vs 10-K: what’s the difference?The 10-K is a company’s audited annual report; the 8-K is an event-driven current report due within four business days. How the two work together.Read the guide →What is a proxy statement (DEF 14A)?The DEF 14A proxy statement is where executive pay, board elections and shareholder proposals are disclosed ahead of the annual meeting. How to read it.Read the guide →How to read a 10-KA reading order for the annual report: what each item of a 10-K is for, what an analyst looks for in it, and the questions to ask at every stop.Read the guide →How to read a 10-QA reading order for the quarterly report: what each part and item of a 10-Q is for, what changed since the 10-K, and the questions to ask at every stop.Read the guide →
Insider activity
2What is a Form 4?A Form 4 discloses trades by corporate insiders (officers, directors and 10% owners) within two business days. How to read one, code by code.Read the guide →Insider trading rules: what insiders can legally doCorporate insiders can legally trade their own stock. Section 16 reporting, the short-swing profit rule, and Rule 10b5-1 plans after the 2023 reforms.Read the guide →
Institutional ownership
2What is a 13F filing?A 13F is the quarterly holdings report filed by institutional managers with $100M+ in U.S. equities. What it shows, its 45-day lag, and its blind spots.Read the guide →Schedule 13D vs 13G: what’s the difference?Both disclose 5%+ stakes in a public company. 13D signals activist intent on a five-business-day clock; 13G is the passive version. The current deadlines.Read the guide →
The EDGAR system
3What is SEC EDGAR?EDGAR is the SEC’s free public database of company filings, holding every 10-K, 8-K and Form 4 since the 1990s. How it works and how to search it well.Read the guide →SEC filing deadlines: 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K and Form 4Every major SEC filing deadline in one place: 10-K and 10-Q by filer category, the 8-K four-business-day rule, Form 4’s two days, 13F, 13D and proxies.Read the guide →What is XBRL?XBRL is the machine-readable tagging standard behind SEC financial data. How Inline XBRL works, what gets tagged, and where the data can mislead.Read the guide →
Using Scrutar
1Put the theory to work
Every guide links into live SEC data, filings, insider trades and ownership for every company Scrutar covers.