Lesson 3 of 8
10-K and 10-Q
Caterpillar filed its fiscal 2025 annual report 44 days after the year ended and its June quarter 36 days after. What each deadline is and what each item holds.
By Javier Sanz
Founder of ValueScreener. Built Ninety Nine, a securities services provider, and sold it to a tier-one global bank; ran operations and internationalization at Alpaca, the brokerage API.
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In one minute
- Deadlines depend on filer status: a large accelerated filer has 60 days for a 10-K and 40 for a 10-Q, and smaller filers get more.
- The 10-K is organised into numbered items in a fixed order, so the same item number holds the same thing at every company.
- The fourth quarter is never filed on its own, so it has to be derived by subtracting the first three from the year.
Two documents carry almost all of a company's financial reporting. One covers the year and is audited. The other covers a quarter, is reviewed rather than audited, and is shorter.
Both have deadlines, and the deadline depends on how large the company is.
Caterpillar's own filing lags
- Fiscal 2025 annual report, deadline 6044days after the period end
- June 2026 quarterly report, deadline 4036days after the period end
The three filer statuses
Caterpillar's fiscal 2025 10-K was filed on 13 February 2026 for the year ended 31 December 2025, which is 44 days. Its 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026 was filed on 5 August 2026, which is 36 days. Both are comfortably inside the large accelerated filer deadlines, which is the normal pattern for a company of that size.
A filing that arrives close to its deadline, or late with a notification of late filing, is worth noticing. The deadline itself is not interesting. A change in a company's own habit is.
What is in each item of a 10-K
The structure is fixed, which is the single most useful thing about it.
Part I holds Item 1, the business; Item 1A, risk factors; Item 2, properties; and Item 3, legal proceedings. Part II holds Item 5 on the market for the stock; Item 7, management's discussion and analysis; Item 7A on market risk; Item 8, the financial statements and notes; and Item 9A on controls and procedures. Part III covers directors, executive compensation and ownership, and is usually incorporated by reference from the proxy statement rather than printed.
That last point catches people. A reader looking for pay in a 10-K will find a cross-reference and has to go to the proxy.
What the 10-Q leaves out
The quarterly report carries condensed financial statements, a shorter management discussion, and updates to risk factors and legal proceedings. It is reviewed by the auditor rather than audited, and it carries no audit opinion.
It also has no fourth quarter. A company files three 10-Qs and then a 10-K, so the fourth quarter exists only as the year less the first three quarters.
That derivation is exactly how it should be done, and it is a common source of error. Any full-year adjustment, including impairments and annual true-ups, lands in that derived quarter and makes it look unlike the other three.
Check yourself
A large accelerated filer's year ends on 31 December. When is the 10-K due?
- Within 45 days
- Within 60 days, so around 1 March
- Within 90 days
Show the answer
Answer: B.
Sixty days for a large accelerated filer, 75 for an accelerated filer and 90 for a non-accelerated one. Caterpillar filed in 44 days for fiscal 2025.Where is executive compensation in a 10-K?
- Item 7, management's discussion
- Item 8, the financial statements
- Usually nowhere: Part III is incorporated by reference from the proxy statement
Show the answer
Answer: C.
Most companies cross-reference Part III to the annual proxy rather than printing it. The pay tables are in the DEF 14A.How do you get fourth-quarter figures?
- From the fourth 10-Q
- By subtracting the three filed quarters from the annual figures
- They are not available
Show the answer
Answer: B.
No fourth 10-Q exists. The derived quarter also absorbs every annual adjustment, which is why it often looks different from the other three.Sources
- Form 10-K, General Instruction A(2), and Form 10-Q, General Instruction A(1), for the filing deadlines by filer status.
- Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, for the definitions of large accelerated filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company.
- Regulation S-K, for the content of the numbered items of Form 10-K.
- Caterpillar Inc. EDGAR submissions index, read 16 September 2026, for the period and filing dates of the FY2025 10-K, accession 0000018230-26-000008, and the Q2 2026 10-Q, accession 0000018230-26-000046.
What this leaves out
- The filer status thresholds are stated in outline. The full definitions include revenue tests and transition provisions, and they have been amended, so the current rule text should be read rather than this page.
- The item list covers a typical commercial or industrial 10-K. Some items are omitted or reordered, and companies in regulated industries carry additional ones.
- The Caterpillar lags are computed here from two filed dates. The company does not print them.
- Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here is advice about any security.