If you only ever learn to read one financial document, make it the 10-K. It is the audited annual report every US public company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and it is the primary source behind almost every financial figure you will see quoted elsewhere — including every number on this site.
The answer first
A 10-K is organised into four parts and numbered “Items”. The figures investors care about — revenue, operating income, net income, earnings per share, assets, liabilities and equity — live in Item 8, the financial statements. Item 7 (MD&A) explains those numbers in management’s own words, and Item 1A lists the risk factors. Read those three and you have read the heart of the filing.
The structure of a 10-K
| Part | Key items | What you’ll find |
|---|---|---|
| Part I | Item 1 Business, 1A Risk Factors, 3 Legal Proceedings | What the company does and what could go wrong |
| Part II | Item 7 MD&A, Item 8 Financial Statements | Management’s analysis and the audited numbers |
| Part III | Items 10–14 | Governance, executive pay (often via proxy) |
| Part IV | Item 15 Exhibits | Contracts, subsidiaries, certifications |
The financial statements in Item 8 are the three core statements plus the notes:
- Income statement — revenue, costs, operating income, net income and EPS for the year.
- Balance sheet — assets, liabilities and shareholders’ equity at year-end.
- Cash flow statement — cash generated and used by operations, investing and financing.
Where the headline numbers come from
Take Apple’s fiscal 2025 10-K as an example. Its income statement reported about $416.2B of revenue and $112.0B of net income — a net margin near 27%. Those exact figures appear on our Apple (AAPL) company page, pulled straight from the filing. You can reconstruct the P/E ratio and profit margin from the same statements.
Reading the MD&A and risk factors
The Management’s Discussion and Analysis (Item 7) is where management explains why the numbers moved — a price increase, a new product, a one-off charge. It is the most readable part of the filing and the fastest way to understand a year’s results. The risk factors (Item 1A) are more boilerplate, but changes from year to year can be revealing.
Annual (10-K) vs quarterly (10-Q)
The 10-K is the audited, full-year report. Its quarterly sibling, the 10-Q, is unaudited and covers three months. For year-over-year comparisons and the metrics on this site, the 10-K is the reliable basis — which is why we only use annual, full-year (form=10-K, fp=FY) facts. See our methodology for the exact concepts we extract.
Where to find filings
Every 10-K is on SEC EDGAR for free, both as the original document and as machine-readable XBRL data. To understand where that structured data comes from, read where company financial data comes from.
A note on using filings
The 10-K is the authoritative source, but reading it is not the same as analysis, and analysis is not investment advice. Figures here are factual data compiled from SEC filings — not investment advice; figures may contain errors or lag the original filing; verify on SEC EDGAR before relying on them. See our disclaimer.