Bankruptcy 8-Ks per Month (SEC, All Filers)

## What this measures

The number each calendar month of original Form 8-K current reports in which a company reports that it, or its parent, has filed for bankruptcy or that a receiver has been appointed: filings that list Item 1.03 (Bankruptcy or Receivership), from every company that files with the SEC. Counted by filing date, one point per month, from September 2004, the first full month of the current 8-K item regime.

## Why it matters

A Form 8-K is due within four business days of the event, so these counts move ahead of quarterly reports and court statistics. Bankruptcies and debt accelerations among SEC-reporting companies are a direct count of corporate credit stress, available every day rather than with the lag of court and agency data.

## How to read it

Higher means more filings. Monthly counts are small and noisy; read them beside the 12-month total and compare a month with the same month a year earlier. The count also moves with the number of companies that report to the SEC, which changes over time, so compare levels across decades with care.

## What it does not say

It counts filings, not companies or dollars: a company can report an event in more than one filing, and a filing says nothing about the size of the debt or charge. Only SEC registrants file 8-Ks, so private companies (most borrowers) are not here, and companies that stopped reporting before a default are missed. A filing filed jointly by a parent and its subsidiaries counts once. Amended reports (8-K/A) are not counted. Asset-backed securities issuers (SIC 6189) and filers with no industry code are left out: in 2005–2007 several hundred note-issuing trusts of two life insurers filed 8-Ks tagged Item 1.03, which would otherwise double those years' bankruptcy counts. For all U.S. business bankruptcies see the U.S. Courts and Epiq series (credit.bankruptcy.*).

## Source

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR: the item codes each company lists on its Form 8-K (EDGAR submissions data, https://www.sec.gov/edgar/sec-api-documentation), counted by Palanor. SEC: "Information presented on sec.gov is considered public information and may be copied or further distributed by users of the web site without the SEC's permission."