FAQ

How does Diff10K work?

Diff10K helps you spot anomalies and changes in a company's annual reports (10K's) in a few clicks:

  • First, select the company you are interested in.

  • Then select which two fiscal years - an "original year" and a "comparison year" - you would like to compare against.

  • Then pick the 10K component you want to analyze.

  • Then click "Compare!".

Texts highlighted in red are texts that have either been removed or did not exist. Conversely, texts highlighted in green are texts that have been added. For example, in the example below, we see that Mr. Fowler was replaced by Mr. Screven as an executive officer of the registrar in Oracle in 2017.

Which 10K components are supported?

There are several components in a 10K. For now, we only support two components - Item 1 (Business) and Item 1A (Risk Factors). See more about the Risk Factors component below.

What's the difference between "Risk Factors (Summary)" and "Risk Factors (Details)"?

The Risk Factors component in a 10K could run really long, so we summarized the risks in each 10K into "Risk Factors (Summary)" to make it easier for you to get an overview of all the risks. Each risk item usually contains a headline/summary followed by additional details (see example below). The headline/summary is what's encapsulated in "Risk Factors (Summary)".

If you want to drill down into details for specific risks, you can go to Risk Factors (Details), which will be available later.

What companies are included in Diff10K?

Since Diff10K is in early access mode now, we only supports ~20 companies but we plan to cover all US public companies eventually. If there are specific companies you would like to be supported sooner, please let us know at Diff10K AT gmail DOT com.

Some texts seem to be missing. Why?

There can be a few reasons:

  • A 10K component usually contains multiple subcomponents. For example, the Business component (Item 1) may contain subcomponents such as "Overview", "Our Business", "Our Employees", etc. Only subcomponents from the original year's 10K will appear in the results. For example, if original year's 10K contains a subcomponent called "Our Products" and comparison year's 10K also contains "Our Products", then both will appear in the results. However, if comparison year's 10K does not contain a "Our Products" section, then we will show a "this subcomponent did not exist" message.

  • Conversely, let's say comparison year's 10K contains a section called "Competition" while original year's 10K does not, then "Competition" will not appear in the results.

  • Because Diff10K can only compare texts, we do not show tables in the results.

What does "this subcomponent did not exist mean"?

This means that the subcomponent exists in original year but not in comparison year (see above). Sometimes this is because a company renames a subcomponent, for example from "Employees" to "Human Capital" (which is very common), even though the text remains largely the same. Sometimes the subcomponent title could differ by just a character, for example from "Our Product" to "Our Products". Companies also often changes the organization of their 10K's, so a subcomponent could be a part of another subcompoent or be split into several subcomponents in other years.

How can I stay informed about Diff10K? How can I join the beta waitlist?

Use the form below to get in touch with us! We look forward to hearing from you.