Writing annual reports for listed companies can often feel like the proverbial ‘herding of chickens.’ Compiling content is one challenge; aligning it with design aspects is another – it’s like a never-ending loop. The cycle of endless edits and changes can feel akin to digging a hole, only to fill it in, and then digging it again. Yes, it’s that repetitive and gruelling.

Learning from Experience

Through trial and error, I’ve come to one clear realisation: everyone involved in the process of creating the annual report – readers and writers alike – must have a shared understanding of what is to be communicated and how. This agreement is not just important; it’s 💥VITAL💥.

Minimising the Pain: A Guide to Formulating Annual Reports

To make the process less daunting for investor relations teams, I have put together a guide. It provides a fundamental framework for curating annual report content. This basic scaffold covers all the essentials and, once agreed upon by everyone involved, provides clear rules for the game.

The content in the guide needs to be tailored for industry-specific and company-specific considerations. While experienced content creators may find this redundant, it can be a lifesaver for many others.

So, what do I do? I specialise in Corporate and Investor Communications

Companies engage my services to structure their investor and corporate communication systems. Here’s how I add value:

• 🟤 Strategic Advisory: I provide guidance on what content to publish, how, and when, under a defined integrated strategy in line with our minimum standards of investor relations practices.
• ⚫ Execution and Management: My team assists with what’s needed, integrating systems, managing content and engagement on websites, email, social media (and apps), tasks that most management teams struggle with due to time and resource constraints.
• 🔴 Analytics and Strategy Refinement: We leverage live dashboards to analyse the impact of our strategies and adjust them as needed for continuous improvement.

In the end, our goal is to make corporate and investor communications seamless, effective, and less like a chicken run.