A Form 10-Q is the quarterly version of the 10-K. A company files three of them a year and then the 10-K covers the fourth quarter and the full year. Four reports. Three Qs and a K.
A Form 10-Q is the quarterly version of the 10-K. A company files three of them a year and then the 10-K covers the fourth quarter and the full year. Four reports. Three Qs and a K.
Two differences matter.
It is shorter. No full business section, no full risk section, no full set of notes. Statements, a brief management discussion, and whatever has changed.
It is unaudited. The auditor reviews a 10-Q but does not audit it. A review is a lighter procedure. The annual figures get the full audit and the quarterly ones do not, which is why a year's four quarters can be revised slightly when the 10-K lands.
Apple's quarter that ended December 30 2023, filed February 2 2024.
The comparison the form gives you is the same quarter one year earlier. $119,575 million against $117,154 million is a rise of $2,421 million, about 2%.
Notice which comparison you were not given. The quarter before this one. That's deliberate and it's the right choice, because Apple's quarter ending in December contains the holidays. It is always its largest. Comparing it with the September quarter would show enormous growth that is entirely about the calendar.
A single quarter of Apple is worth looking at on its own terms too. $119,575 million in thirteen weeks is about $9.2 billion a week.
The trap is comparing a quarter with the quarter before it.
Almost every business has a season. Retailers earn in December. Tax firms earn in April. Education businesses earn when terms start. Put two adjacent quarters side by side in a seasonal business and you will measure the calendar rather than the company.
Compare the same quarter a year earlier. That's why the filing prints it next to the current one.
The second trap is treating a quarterly figure as settled. It is reviewed, not audited. Most of the time nothing changes. When something does, it changes in the 10-K, and the annual figure is the one that carries the auditor's opinion.
It's February and your manager wants to know how Apple started its year.
Which document covers it?
The Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended December 30 2023. Filed February 2 2024.
What did the quarter do?
Total net sales of $119,575 million against $117,154 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Up about 2%.
Your manager asks how that compares with the previous quarter.
That's the wrong comparison for this company. The December quarter holds the holidays and is always the largest. The year-earlier quarter is the comparison the filing gives.
Your manager asks whether the figure is final.
It's reviewed rather than audited. Treat it as firm but expect the audited version in the 10-K at the end of the fiscal year.
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