Earlier this year, the Financial Reporting Council released a report from its Financial Reporting Lab on workforce-related corporate reporting. It turns out that current annual reports are not giving investors what they want when it comes to describing what is often a company's most important asset and its largest single [...]
This post – about the s172(1) statement – is our second covering the new annual report disclosure requirements for 2019. Our first post explained the purpose of purpose, and how it fits within your annual report. The new reporting requirements are effective for December 2019 year ends. They arise [...]
The 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code requires the board to establish the company's purpose. This post discusses what a good purpose looks like and why it's so important for running your company.
As we head into the main corporate reporting season, it’s time to have a look at some of this year’s hot topics. The good news is that there are no additional disclosure requirements for the strategic report this year. Companies therefore have more freedom to focus on improving their annual [...]
Our politicians have declared the fact extinct. You can say what you want, disparage the experts and claim to be an anti-establishment billionaire. It doesn’t matter. They know we’re living in a post-truth world. Politicians lie because in the short term, it’s effective. In the same way that fun [...]
Annual report season is approaching fast for December year ends. Most companies will be looking to improve on last year, to communicate more clearly and concisely what they’re trying to do and how well they’re doing it. Often, that process focuses on the technicalities of corporate reporting: linking strategy [...]
Over the last few months, we've written two posts on sustainability reporting for our friends over at CLT envirolaw. The first post looks at the basics. In particular, it covers the main areas that sustainability information is likely to appear in the strategic report section of your annual report, [...]
We're in October's Finance Monthly magazine, giving our views on annual report developments as part of the Spotlight on Corporate Reporting feature. In the article, we talk about: why good reporting adds real value for companies how to be a good reporter improving your annual report, including the key areas where [...]
Most companies have now published their first strategic reports, so this seems like a good time to look at what comes next.In this free white paper, we consider how companies can make their next strategic report as useful as possible for investors.In particular, we set out:the key content areas that [...]
Many people come to this site looking for advice on how to write an annual report. This post is for you. We’ve assumed that you’re writing it for a UK public company but most of the principles here apply to any kind of organisation. You should have started weeks ago... [...]
A successful white paper needs careful planning if it’s to achieve your business goals. Here we outline eight key steps to pain-free white paper copywriting. Step 1: Identify your audience All good communication is tailored to its audience, so you need to know who you're writing for. This may [...]
The strategic report is the critical part of your annual report. It's where you set out what your business does, what you're looking to achieve and how well you're progressing. This makes the strategic report fundamental to your investors' understanding of why they should own shares in your company. In this post, we've [...]
Blog post: four key lessons for companies looking to improve their sustainability reporting, inspired by a typically cynical Alex cartoon.
Blog post: the government has published its new narrative reporting regulations and introduced the strategic report. We summarise the effect your annual report.
Blog post: three compelling reasons why pie charts are never the best option for presenting your data.
