What changed in this filing

/stocks — the workspaceLOADING

Item 1. Business

2026-02-26 compared with 2025-02-20 · 22 added, 20 removed, 282 unchanged (13% of the section changed)

19 unchanged sentences

We also use our expertise in economics, finance, and business to offer law firms, businesses, and government agencies services related to class certification, damages analysis, expert reports and testimony, regulatory analysis, antitrust and competition matters, strategy development, forensic accounting, cybersecurity, information security and privacy matters, labor and employment disputes, transfer pricing issues, valuation of tangible and intangible assets, intellectual property litigation and damages, risk management, and transaction support.

In our management consulting services, we use our expertise in economics, finance, and business analysis to offer our clients such services as strategy development, performance improvement, corporate strategy and portfolio analysis, estimation of market demand, environmental, social and corporate governance ("ESG") and sustainability strategy and analysis, design and implementation of auction and competitive bidding, new product

pricing strategies, survey and market research, valuation of intellectual property and other assets, assessment of competitors' actions, and analysis of new sources of supply.

Our analytical expertise in advanced economic and financial methods is complemented by our in-depth expertise in specific industries, including blockchain and cryptocurrency;

In our management consulting services, we use our expertise in economics, finance, and business analysis to offer our clients such services as strategy development, performance improvement, corporate strategy and portfolio analysis, estimation of market demand, environmental, social and corporate governance and sustainability strategy and analysis, design and implementation of auction and competitive bidding, new product pricing

strategies, survey and market research, valuation of intellectual property and other assets, assessment of competitors' actions, and analysis of new sources of supply.

Our analytical expertise in advanced economic and financial methods is complemented by our in-depth expertise in specific industries, including blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital assets;

communications and media;

42 unchanged sentences

We believe our most important asset is our base of employee consultants, particularly our senior employee consultants.

As of December 28, 2024, we employed 946 consultants,

As of January 3, 2026, we employed 959 consultants,

which consisted of 164 officers, 563 other senior staff and 232 junior staff.

27 unchanged sentences

Our clients are major firms, and national and international law firms representing such clients, across a multitude of industries that include:

blockchain and cryptocurrency;

blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital assets;

communications and media;

13 unchanged sentences

Depending on client needs, we use non-employee experts for their specialized expertise, assistance in conceptual problem-solving, and expert witness testimony.

We work regularly with renowned professors at such institutions as the University of Chicago, Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, Yale University, Brigham Young University, Northwestern University, the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, McGill University, and other leading universities.

We work regularly with renowned professors at such institutions as Boston University, Brigham Young University, Georgetown University, McGill University, Northwestern University, Texas A&M University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Texas at Austin, Yale University, and other leading universities.

These experts also generate business for us and provide us access to other leading academic and industry experts.

52 unchanged sentences

Analyses include simulating the effects of mergers on prices, estimating demand elasticities, designing and administering customer and consumer surveys, and studying possible acquisition-related synergies.

Regulatory Economics & Compliance

Regulatory proceedings and assisting clients in understanding and mitigating regulatory risks and exposures, preparing policy studies that help develop the basis for sound regulatory policy, drafting regulatory filings, and advising on regulations pertaining to environmental protection, employment, and health and safety.

Regulatory Economics &

Compliance Regulatory proceedings and assisting clients in understanding and mitigating regulatory risks and exposures, preparing policy studies that help develop the basis for sound regulatory policy, drafting regulatory filings, and advising on regulations pertaining to environmental protection, employment, and health and safety.

Risk, Investigations & Analytics Assistance for clients facing complex legal and business challenges using a multi-disciplinary approach to collect, process, and analyze information, including large and complex data sets from internal and external sources, electronic communications and transactions, insights from public records, social media, and human intelligence.

24 unchanged sentences

Areas of Functional Expertise Description of Area of Service

Auctions & Competitive Bidding Providing auction and market design, implementation, and monitoring services, as well as bidding support services, for businesses, industry organizations, and governments in various industries around the world, including commodities, energy and utilities, telecommunications, transportation, natural resources, and other industries.

Corporate & Business Strategy Advising on business strategy, corporate revitalizations, and organizational effectiveness by bringing new ways of thinking to companies and new ways of working to develop better strategies over time and identifying the highest-value opportunities that address critical challenges and transform business.

10 unchanged sentences

and the economic and business issues surrounding clean and renewable energy, enterprise and asset management, global gas and liquefied natural gas services, and regulation and litigation.

Intellectual Property & Technology Management

Intellectual Property & Technology

Advising top management, investors, and boards on technology strategy and planning, research and development management, commercialization, technology market evaluation, intellectual property management, and portfolio and resource management.

Organization & Performance Improvement

Organization & Performance

Advising corporate clients in areas of revenue growth drivers;

10 unchanged sentences

While we provide services to clients in a wide variety of industries, we have particular expertise in the following industries:

• Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

• Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets

• Communications & Media

17 unchanged sentences

Our clients come from a broad range of industries, with no single client accounting for more than 10% of our revenues in any of fiscal 2025, fiscal 2024, or fiscal 2023.

We derived approximately 18%, of consolidated revenues from fixed-price contracts in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023, respectively and 19% in fiscal 2022.

We derived approximately 17% of consolidated revenues from fixed-price contracts in fiscal 2025 and 18% in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023, respectively.

These contracts are more common in our management consulting practices, and would likely grow in number with expansion of those practices.

Human Capital

As of December 28, 2024, we employed 946 consultants, consisting of 151 officers, 552 other senior staff and 243 junior staff.

As of January 3, 2026, we employed 959 consultants, consisting of 164 officers, 563 other senior staff and 232 junior staff.

Approximately 79% of our senior staff have advanced degrees, with 51% of the advanced degrees being doctorate degrees, in addition to substantial management, technical, government, academic, or industry expertise.

13 unchanged sentences

Accordingly, we compensate our senior corporate leaders, practice leaders, key revenue generators, and other employees with salary and a mixture of incentive-based programs, including a discretionary bonus program through which we pay annual, performance-based cash bonuses to our employee consultants.

Our long-term incentive program ("LTIP") serves as a framework for equity

grants under our Amended and Restated 2006 equity incentive plan, as amended (the "2006 Equity Plan"), offering stock options, time-vesting and performance-vesting restricted stock units to senior corporate leaders, practice leaders, and key revenue generators.

Our long-term incentive program ("LTIP") serves as a framework for equity grants under our Amended and Restated 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the "2006 Equity Plan"), offering stock options, time-vesting restricted stock units and performance-vesting restricted stock units to senior corporate leaders, practice leaders, and key revenue generators.

The LTIP also allows for service and performance-based cash awards, granted under our cash incentive plan, providing these leaders with opportunities to share in our business’s long-term growth.

The compensation committee of our Board of Directors is responsible for approving all cash and equity awards under the LTIP, all other equity compensation awards, and the total bonuses to be distributed under our bonus program, and for establishing performance goals under compensation awards and determining the extent to which these goals are achieved.

The compensation

committee of our Board of Directors is responsible for approving all cash and equity awards under the LTIP, all other equity compensation awards, and the total bonuses to be distributed under our bonus program, and for establishing performance goals under compensation awards and determining the extent to which these goals are achieved.

Our chief executive officer, in his discretion and in consultation with the compensation committee of our Board of Directors, approves the bonuses to be granted to our employees.

8 unchanged sentences

Marketing and Business Development

Our business development and marketing activities, led by our employee consultants and our Marketing, Business Development and Coaching group, emphasize building and maintaining relationships, cultivating brand awareness, and generating leads for new work.

Our business development and marketing activities, led by our employee consultants and our Marketing group, emphasize building and maintaining relationships, cultivating brand awareness, and generating leads for new work.

We encourage our employee consultants to generate new business from both existing and new clients, and we reward our employee consultants with increased compensation and promotions for obtaining new business.

15 unchanged sentences

In the litigation, regulatory, and financial consulting markets, we compete primarily with other economic consulting firms and individual academics.

We believe the principal competitive factors in this market are reputation, analytical ability, industry expertise, size, and service.

We believe the principal

competitive factors in this market are reputation, analytical ability, industry expertise, size, and service.

In the management consulting market, we compete primarily with other business and management consulting firms, specialized or industry-specific consulting firms, the consulting practices of large accounting firms, and the internal professional resources of existing and potential clients.

2 unchanged sentences

Our principal internet address is www.crai.com.

Our website provides a link to a third-party website through which our annual, quarterly, and current reports, and amendments to those reports, are available free of charge.

Our website provides a link to a third-party website through which our annual, quarterly, and current reports, and amendments to those reports, are available free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after those reports are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.

We do not maintain or provide any information directly to the third-party website, and we do not check its accuracy.

Our website and the information contained therein or connected thereto are not intended to be incorporated into this annual report on Form 10-K.

In addition, the SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information for issuers, such as us, that file electronically with the SEC at https://www.sec.gov.

Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business