"In 1959, IBM hired Paul Rand, a prominent book designer, to create its annual report. As a result, the high-concept annual report was born." (Addison Annual Report Handbook 2004/2005)
"Reporting is not just about complying."
(Tony Comper, former CEO of BMO: N°1 Annual Report in the financial sector in the 2002, 2006 and 2007 Annual Report on Annual Reports)
"A good annual report has a value similar to a one-on-one meeting with investors."
(Richard Carpenter, Managing Partner at Merchant, a leading British communication consultancy, in “Who’s doing what?”, December 2008)
"As we rethink the regulatory model, now is the time to rethink the reporting model."
(David Phillips, senior corporate reporting partner at PwC, in Financial Times Accountancy column, December 11, 2008)
Reporting is, more than ever, a delicate balance. Between: current shareholders and potential investors, freedom of speech (not less) and compliance (mandatory), substance and style, stockholders and other stakeholders, content and appeal, thoroughness and brevity, information (overload) and communication (overuse), printed and electronic reporting tools, the talk and the walk.
Reportwatch
"The most important thingPeter F. Drucker, Austrian-born American writer and management consultant
in communication is hearing
what isn't said"
HOME > REPORTING
REPORT OF THE MONTH
Heidelberg (January 2009)
BEST ANNUAL REPORTS
Annual Report on Annual Reports 2008
How will you report this year?
As the Nobel Prize in Economics Paul Krugman puts it "We are already... well into the realm of what I call depression economics". In such a context and in the midst of the most serious financial crisis, reporting is made even more difficult.
And annual reports will be much expected to put things -and numbers- in a perspective that goes further than a blip on a trader's screen or quarterly results and warnings.
For essentials about annuals, go to www.reportwatch.net/report-essentials/
For tools to assess, optimize and benchmark reports, go to www.reportwatch.net/e-com/making-reports-pay-off/
