Some things are certain in life: death, taxes - and annual reports.
Government bodies, charities and firms listed on the stock exchange must publish an annual report.
Annual reports show taxpayers, regulators and shareholders what you did with their money and how you added value.
But anyone who has produced them knows that annual reports can also cause a lot of stress.
The good news is that if you start preparing for your annual report season early, it will ease the stress at the end of the financial year.
1 Set expectations early
An annual report is a large and complicated beast. It contains information from many sources, including finance, corporate reporting and communications or marketing.
Many organisations are constantly warring internally about who has responsibility for what parts of the annual report.
April is a good time to thrash out who will deliver what. Set expectations early then nobody can be taken by surprise at the last minute.
Make sure you check the rules for what you must report on. These change from year to year.
It is also a good idea to work out who in the leadership team will be responsible for the report and help getting it approved through the executive team.
Once you have a leader on board, set expectations for the tone, look and cost of the report.
Some key questions you will need to resolve are:
Will it be a high-end marketing document or a bare-bones report?
What is the budget?
What is the look and feel?
How will approvals be done?
Once these things are resolved, get it documented so everyone agrees ̶ and signs off ̶ on the plan of attack.
2 Communicate clearly
Once you have your annual report action plan, you need to communicate it.
You can’t do a report alone. You need to source information from different teams internally. Talk to them early in the process and make sure they know what you need from them and when you need it.
If you are sourcing information from subject matter experts, you must be very clear about what you need. Use templates and examples so they know what information they need to provide. Give them the information from previous years as a guide.
Everyone will have different writing skills and tone. Expect that you will need to heavily edit all written text to ensure it has a consistent tone.
A good timeline will also help you manage up and let your superiors know that things are on track.
3 Keep it simple
When planning your content, remember to keep it simple.
Everybody loves infographics. You should consider using some to communicate your key work.
Everybody loves infographics in annual reports. Source: Public Transport Victoria
Infographics in an annual report add a wow factor but can also be repurposed and reused long after your report is published.
Your annual report is a public record of your year. Your organisation is large and complicated but your annual report should be easy to read and understand.
From your layout to your writing, keep your report as simple as possible.
Make sure you tell your paymasters – your shareholders or the taxpayer – how you used their money. Explain how you delivered value or acted on what you were funded to do.
You need to ensure you are being as open and transparent and possible.
And finally, prepare for problems
No matter how well you set expectations, communicate and plan for your annual report, there will be a problem.
Make sure you have a bit of fat in your timetable for contingency.
If you expect an issue, you won’t be caught out when it happens.
Stay calm and don’t panic. You will get there in the end.
For help with your annual report, get in touch.
Comentários