Technical Writing – How to Write a Corporate Form 10-K Annual Report

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All U.S. companies that issue publicly traded stock shares must file an Annual Report with the U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) by law. They have to disclose their financial dealings, strengths and vulnerabilities, by filing Form 10-K every year. Another name for this form is the “Annual Report.”

If a company has over $10 million in assets and over 500 shareholders, it again has to file an Annual Report even if its shares are held in private. In addition to the annual Form 10-K, corporations also file Form 10-Q Quarterly Reports. There is another opportunity there for technical writers specializing in finance.

Annual report writing is a well-paying technical writing assignment that is not hi-tech in the regular sense of the term. However it requires a familiarity with finance and economic terminology and a willingness to interview CEOs or other senior corporate officials to gather information.

Professional writers charge anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 to write such annual reports. So theoretically it is possible to make a six-figure income by writing just 10 annual SEC reports a year.

Annual Reports follow a strict format determined by SEC. All information needs to be presented in 4 parts and under15 headings, in the following order:

PART I

Item 1. Business

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Item 2. Properties

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

Item 4. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

PART II

Item 5. Market for Company’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Item 9B. Other Information

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

Item 11. Executive Compensation

Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

PART IV

Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules

As you can see, this is a very information-intensive project and takes a lot of interaction with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) to gather confidential information. That’s why corporations pay annual report writers very well since they need this crucial document written correctly and filed on time every year to satisfy the letter of the law. And that’s also why if you do this once successfully, it may very well become a recurring freelance assignment in the years to come.

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Source by Ugur Akinci