Why Report On Annuals?

Even if you all think I am old school, too I agree with Rob: Annual Reports do offer more than just figures! Its the single one strategy thing every listed company has to do.

And it serves as reference document where people can track things back for many yeears. Online even works easier in this respect as you can just offer a “compare to last year” direct link. See how whe did this at Xstrata’s report http://www.xstrata.com/annualreport/2009/strategy/chiefexecutivesreport.html
on the right hand sind under Tools.
Best
Thomas

I also agree with Rob and Thomas. For many companies the preparation of the annual report is an opportunity to review and revise strategy and pull together all the activities of the company. Well run companies tend to spend time on producing a good annual report.

RGB -

You knew I’d have an opinion on this. I actually agree with you about the value of an annual report. They do provide a source of “guidance” for investors for the coming FY. It’s a great way for the “issuer” to share its strategy to grow the company for the rest of the year and beyond.

Nobody disputes the value… what we dispute is having to go through another crappy report. The design of these books are typically old and tired. The messaging is straight out of 1990-something. Very little originality. If someone wanted to “wow” me (not that I’m the bellweather for anything) they’d focus on creating a killer interactive report that outlines all of the stuff you (and the commenters) have pointed out. It’s now time for companies to get over the “fear” of doing things online. Investors want it. They want info when it is convenient for them…not the company. So how about we start a crusade to get more companies to embrace the goodness of a rock solid interactive annual report and relegate the “book” to stoke the fire over the coming winter months? What say you?

We’ve seen some big improvrmrnts in the quality of communication through the AR in Europe - particulary since we adopted new rules on narrative reporting. Its a pity in some ways that all this good stuff does sometimes get relegated to gather dust on the shelf. Some companies use the information and case studies to populate the investor sections of the web site so that those who don’t want to venture in to the AR can also get the benefit.