Red Flags in Amended Annual Reports - Quarterly Update #1

Amended annual reports deserve investor's attention because they often deliver bad news.

Why amended 10-Ks are important?

Companies often file amended annual reports to make technical changes, such as incorporating proxy information or correcting minor typos. These amendments are not a red flag and are generally inconsequential to investors.

However, some amended reports deliver bad news, such as revealing errors in previously filed financial statements or disclosing weaknesses in internal controls. These amendments deserve more attention because the negative information could be material and because the amended filing could be the first source to announce the bad news (for additional examples, see discussion at The Dig).

Amended 10-K filings - quarterly update #1

In this quarterly update, I examine the reasons for the 10-K/A amendments filed between October 1 and December 31, 2023.

Companies filed 98 amended 10-K reports in the December 31, 2023 quarter.

Table 1 below reflects the primary reasons for the amendments.

The discussion of selected categories is below.

Audit opinion o…