Annual Reports Fail to Tell Full Story - CFO Insight: "While struggling to comply with all legal accounting requirements, most chief financial officers fail to use their annual accounts to tell a consistent story. According to new research, the growing complexity of accounting standards has led to reports doubling in length over the past two decades. Things are getting better, though."
Despite the fact that British companies are producing their longest annual reports ever, only a minority thereof tell a consistent story. This is a key finding of the report “Joined up writing” recently published by Deloitte. Since 2010, the auditor has surveyed the reports of 130 publicly listed companies in the UK, and reviewed how well companies tell the story of their financial position.
As accounting standards require ever more detail and precise breakdowns, it comes as no surprise that annual reports continue to grow longer and longer. Over the last 16 years, annual reports have doubled in length to a current average of 103 pages. This presents the risk, however, that the growing volume of reports can obscure the information that is relevant to most readers.
Many initiatives at the European and UK levels are trying to find a way to reduce the overall volume of reporting. The most notable example is perhaps a report called “Making Corporate Reporting Readable” by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), which suggested that the essential annual summary should be told in a 30-page report.
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Despite the fact that British companies are producing their longest annual reports ever, only a minority thereof tell a consistent story. This is a key finding of the report “Joined up writing” recently published by Deloitte. Since 2010, the auditor has surveyed the reports of 130 publicly listed companies in the UK, and reviewed how well companies tell the story of their financial position.
As accounting standards require ever more detail and precise breakdowns, it comes as no surprise that annual reports continue to grow longer and longer. Over the last 16 years, annual reports have doubled in length to a current average of 103 pages. This presents the risk, however, that the growing volume of reports can obscure the information that is relevant to most readers.
Many initiatives at the European and UK levels are trying to find a way to reduce the overall volume of reporting. The most notable example is perhaps a report called “Making Corporate Reporting Readable” by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), which suggested that the essential annual summary should be told in a 30-page report.
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