Form 20-F
The annual report that a foreign private issuer files with the SEC, in place of the Form 10-K used by US domestic companies.
Foreign private issuers listed in the US file Form 20-F as their annual report. It includes audited financial statements, risk factors and governance disclosures. The statements are prepared under IFRS or US GAAP, and the filing is generally due four months after fiscal year-end.
Traders care because the 20-F is the main audited annual document for a foreign company listed in the US. Its content can differ from the company's home-market annual report in detail and in accounting basis. Use it to check segment data, leverage and risk factors.
Worked example (illustrative numbers, not real data): a company with a December 31 year-end files its Form 20-F by the end of April, four months later.