It’s been over 15 years since The Sarbanes–Oxley Act and changes in the Form 8-K reporting standards.
As the chart above shows, a the number of “material events” reported by public companies more than doubled between SarBox’s legislative passage in 2002 and the implementation of
expanded 8-Ks in 2004. These changes included eight new trigger items, two items transferred from periodic reports and two expanded reportable items.
However, SEC data also reveals since a peak in 2005 the number of 8-Ks filed has been an overall decline with last year’s filings nearly matching pre-implementation numbers.
Existing research does not address the reason for the decline in 8-Ks, although public companies have discovered new ways of communicating with investors including social media under and
updated Reg FD.