Current reports

A company announces earnings, signs an acquisition agreement, or changes its chief executive. You do not have to wait for its next annual or quarterly report to read the disclosure: these updates often appear in a current report.

Forms 8-K and 6-K cover a wide range of developments. The form, item headings, and attachments help you understand what happened. Read them alongside annual and quarterly reports for the broader picture of the business.

How the forms differ

• 8-K is the current report used by US domestic issuers. Numbered items identify the subjects reported. Many required disclosures are due within four business days of the event, though timing and exceptions depend on the item.
• 6-K is used by foreign private issuers to share material information made public under home-country rules, through an exchange, or with shareholders. It has no standard set of numbered disclosure items.
• 8-K/A and 6-K/A amend earlier reports.

Reading an 8-K

An 8-K can cover several subjects. Its item codes help you find reports relevant to a question, such as earnings or a change in leadership. Useful items include:

These are selected items, not the full list. The SEC's Form 8-K instructions define each item.

For an earnings announcement, start with Item 2.02 and then look for the attached release and financial tables. A report can also include Item 9.01 because it has exhibits. That item alone does not tell you whether the subject is earnings, an acquisition, or something else.

An item identifies a disclosure category, not a complete account of the event. An agreement being signed and an acquisition being completed are different stages; Items 1.01 and 2.01 help distinguish them. Read the wording before treating an announced deal as a completed one.

Reading a 6-K

A 6-K can contain an earnings release, interim financial statements, a business update, or shareholder meeting materials. The cover document may be brief, with the substance in its attachments. Read the document titles and exhibits to understand what the company disclosed.

A 6-K containing interim results is still a 6-K; it does not follow the 10-Q structure used by domestic issuers. Reporting periods and presentation can differ between companies.

A 6-K has no equivalent to the numbered 8-K items. Its title, opening explanation, and attachments are your starting points. See the SEC’s Form 6-K instructions for the kinds of information it covers.

Filings and exhibits

Exhibits are part of understanding a current report. An earnings announcement may put the results tables in an attached press release. An acquisition report may attach the agreement. A shareholder meeting report may attach the notice and voting materials.

An exhibit number such as 99.1 is not an 8-K item code. Read the exhibit's description and contents to identify its subject.

Suppose the cover document says that an earnings release is attached as Exhibit 99.1. Reading only the cover would miss the results. Read the release, its tables, and the notes to understand the announcement. If it includes non-GAAP measures, check the company’s definitions and reconciliation to the comparable accounting measures.

Amendments and dates

An amendment can correct a disclosure or supply more information. Read it together with the original report: the amendment may contain only the changed or added material. Each submission has its own accession number, and Chadwin returns amendments as separate filings.

The report date and filing date answer different questions. An 8-K’s report date is the earliest event reported, not necessarily the day it reached the SEC. A 6-K can describe results for an earlier month, quarter, or half-year. Neither form’s report date should automatically become a fiscal quarter-end date.

An earnings release can discuss several periods at once, including comparisons and forecasts. Use the headings in the release to identify which period a figure describes.

How Chadwin prepares reports

Chadwin brings the primary filing and its HTML and plain-text exhibits together in one cleaned HTML document. You can read the cover and the supporting disclosure without assembling them yourself.

Labeled sections keep the documents distinct. We preserve text, tables, links, and supported images while removing scripts and redundant markup. PDFs and other formats remain links to the SEC originals.

Each submission keeps its own accession number and original filing link. Amendments remain separate reports rather than being merged into a rewritten version of the original.

Using the API

Search the metadata to identify relevant disclosures, then retrieve the HTML for the reports you want to read or process:

The API reference has the full parameters and response fields. To follow new disclosures as they become available, use the current reports feed described in the polling feeds guide.