The 8-K — Material Events
Items 1.01 / 2.01 / 5.02 / 7.01 patterns and what they signal
The 8-K is the SEC's required disclosure of material events that occur between periodic reports — the live news feed of every U.S. public company's most consequential developments.
The form must be filed within four business days of the event (with limited exceptions for some specific events that have shorter or longer windows). Where the 10-K and 10-Q are scheduled snapshots of company performance, the 8-K is the real-time disclosure of what just happened — major contracts signed or terminated, acquisitions announced or completed, executive departures, board changes, material legal proceedings, accounting determinations, restatements, going concern doubts, and more. The form has a structured taxonomy: 30+ specific 'Items' that categorize the type of event being disclosed (Item 1.
01 = entry into material agreement; Item 2.01 = completion of acquisition; Item 5.02 = departure of officers; Item 7.
01 = Reg FD disclosure; Item 8.01 = other events; etc.)
That is the opening. Finishing a lesson is where it stops being interesting and starts being useful: the full lesson runs to 8 sections and ends with 6 practice questions. A free account is what opens the rest, and the other 255 lessons in the Academy with it. No card.
What this lesson covers
- 1Four Items that deserve specific analytical attention
- 2How to read 8-Ks systematically across a portfolio
- 38-K Item Filter and Reader
- 48-K filing requirements
- 5Most-watched 8-K Items and what they typically signal
- 6Item 4.02 — the 'non-reliance' filing that is the most-direct restatement signal
- 7Where to see this on the platform
- 8Summary