Every 8-K Item Number Explained, From Item 1.01 to Item 9.01

Form 8-K is the SEC's current report, the filing a company uses to disclose a specific event between its regular quarterly and annual reports. What makes an 8-K useful is its item number: a short code that tells you exactly what kind of event triggered the filing, from a new credit agreement to a cybersecurity incident. This is a reference to every item number currently in use, grouped the way the form itself groups them.

How Form 8-K is organized

Form 8-K splits its triggering events into nine numbered sections. Each section covers a theme, and each item within it covers one specific event:

A single 8-K can report more than one item if several triggering events happen close together, for example a CEO departure (5.02) alongside a related compensation change.

The full list of items

Section 6 applies only to issuers of asset-backed securities, so most operating companies never file those items.

The four business day rule

Most 8-K items must be filed within four business days after the triggering event occurs. This is the general deadline the SEC adopted in 2004 when it expanded the list of reportable events and tightened the old practice of filing within days or weeks at the company's discretion.

Item 1.05 cybersecurity incidents follow a related but distinct trigger: the four business day clock starts when the company determines the incident is material, not necessarily when the incident itself happened. A company can delay disclosure only if the Attorney General determines that immediate disclosure would pose a substantial risk to national security or public safety.

Items that are furnished, not filed

Two items, 2.02 (results of operations) and 7.01 (Regulation FD disclosure), are typically furnished rather than filed. This distinction affects legal exposure: furnished information is not subject to the liability provisions of Section 18 of the Exchange Act and is not automatically incorporated into a company's Securities Act registration statements the way filed information is. Companies sometimes also furnish related items such as 8.01 when disclosing information that is not required by any specific item.

Items without the four day deadline

A small number of items have different timing. Item 5.02 disclosures tied to certain compensatory plan amendments and Item 1.04 mine safety disclosures follow their own specific instructions in the form rather than the general four day rule, so always check the item's own instructions rather than assuming every disclosure follows the same clock.

Why item numbers matter for research

Searching 8-K filings by keyword misses filings that use different wording for the same kind of event. Searching by item number is more reliable, because every company classifies its own filing using the same numbered list. If you want every auditor change disclosed across all companies in a given month, Item 4.01 captures that regardless of how each company phrases its press release.

Working with 8-K items in code

SecFeed classifies every 8-K filing by item and can return the disclosed text for that item directly, instead of the whole filing. To pull every cybersecurity incident disclosure with the item text included:

curl "https://secfeedapi.com/v1/form-8k?item=1.05&text=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Each result includes the company, the filing date, the item number, and the disclosed text:

{
  "cik": "1045810",
  "companyName": "EXAMPLE SEMICONDUCTOR INC",
  "formType": "8-K",
  "item": "1.05",
  "filedAt": "2026-09-22",
  "text": "On September 18, 2026, the Company determined that a cybersecurity incident..."
}

To scan multiple item types across a date range in Python:

from secfeed import Client

sf = Client("YOUR_API_KEY")
filings = sf.filings('formType:"8-K" AND items:"4.02" AND filedAt:[2026-07-01 TO 2026-09-30]')
for f in filings:
    print(f["companyName"], f["filedAt"])

Several items also have their own dedicated feed under /v1/form-8k/, listed in our API docs, covering item-specific detail such as executive changes, auditor changes and shareholder votes.

Frequently asked questions

How many items does Form 8-K have?

There are 32 numbered items across nine sections, though Section 6's items apply only to asset-backed securities issuers, so most operating companies use a smaller subset.

What is the deadline for most 8-K items?

Four business days after the triggering event, for most items. Item 1.05 cybersecurity incidents are timed from the materiality determination rather than the incident itself, and a few items have their own distinct instructions.

What does it mean when an item is furnished instead of filed?

Furnished information, most commonly under Items 2.02 and 7.01, is not subject to the same liability under Section 18 of the Exchange Act as filed information, and it is not automatically incorporated into later Securities Act registration statements.

Can one 8-K report more than one item?

Yes. A single current report can disclose multiple items if more than one triggering event occurred around the same time, such as a CEO change under Item 5.02 that also results in a new employment agreement under Item 1.01.

Where can I find the item number before I read the whole filing?

The cover page of every 8-K lists the checked item numbers near the top, before the signature block. SecFeed's filing search returns the item numbers directly as structured data, so you do not need to open the filing to see which items it reports.