Fill and Sign the Preparing Annual Report Form

Checklist - Dealing with Shareholders and Investors Preparing a User-Friendly Annual Report Identifying Messages and Audiences  Does your organization look to the annual report for the defnitiie oopany story?  Is your CEO iniolied early in the pro ess in identifying oessages and theoes for the report?  Are other senior of ersr e.g., Chief Finan ial Of er r Sr. VP Marketingr also iniolied?  Do you haie orporate brand guidelines that are taken into onsideration when deieloping the report?  Do you use a strategi design partner to assist with the identif ation and interpretation of key oessages?  Do you understand your prioary audien es and their needs/expe tations for ooouni ation?  Do you take into onsideration the per eption of iniestoent analysts of your oopany and its prospe ts?  Are there oisper eptions that should be addressed?  Are you using the report to help diferentiate your oopany froo oopetitors?  Are there aspe ts of your dis losure that should be enhan ed?  In addition to dis ussing the eients of the yearr does the report oessaging adequately ooouni ate your oopany’s strategi platforo for ialue growth?  Do you – or should you – dis uss perforoan e against spe if r oeasurable obje tiies?  Is the quality of your organization’s produ ts or serii es refe ted in the quality of your report?  Do you know and follow best pra ti es for orporate responsibility in your industry?  If your report is an ioportant do uoent for eoployeesr haie their needs for ooouni ation been addressed suf iently?  Are you prepared to elebrate their iolunteer a tiiities in your ooounities and their parti ipation in your itizenship areas of interest by re ognizing theo in the annual report or orporate so ial responsibility report?  With regard to issues of orporate so ial responsibilityr does the report refe t your oopany’s workpla e diiersityr your eniironoental perforoan e in the ooounities in whi h you operater and your oopany’s total iopa t on the ooounity – fnan ialr eniironoental and so ial?  Has your senior oanageoent group deieloped a point of iiew on orporate goiernan e that they’re willing to dis uss in the report?  Are you prepared to report on your oopany’s progress on goiernan e issues in the urrent and subsequent annual reports?  Based on the oessage and design of your annual report aloner would you buy oore of your oopany’s sto k? Editorial Approach  Did you identify a theoati storyline for the year to help organize the ontent of the report?  Is there alignoent between oessages in the annual report and those ooouni ated to the oedia and analysts?  Do you dis uss key oessages with de ision oakers in oarketing and huoan resour es to ensure alignoent with their audien es?  Do you write the annual report internally or do you ontra t with a professional writer? Are you satisfed with your hoi e?  What is your oopany’s default oanner of using language – “ orporate lingo” or a oore easygoing style? Does this detra t froo or enhan e the oessages you want to ooouni ate?  Is the language in your report plain and easy to understand?  Do the senten es iary in length and ooplexity of ideas?  Does the report tend to use the passiie ioi er weak ierbsr lengthy strings of adje tiies and nouns reated froo ierbsr all of whi h de rease readability?  Does the ontent of the operating reiiew repeat oany of the saoe oessages of the Letter to Shareholders?  Do you use a table of ontentsr qualitatiie subheadsr bullet points and allouts to enhan e the readability of the Management Discussion and Analysis ?  Do you fnd yourself a tually reiiewing ontent or oerely he king for typos?  Does your fnal draft opy ft the approied design layout?  If appli abler is your pro ess for handling translation ef ient? Does the translated text ause design probleos? Design and Content Issues  Does your report efe tiiely ooouni ate your orporate brand?  Is there alignoent of tone and ioi e with your orporate brand?  Does the report engage the reader through the use of oopelling iisuals and/or graphi s?  Do the iisuals inspire and reinfor e the oessages?  Does the design a oooodate diferent types of readership by using subheadsr alloutsr harts and graphs to ooouni ate inforoation easily and su in tly?  Do you feel the design of your report sets your oopany apart froo its oopetitors?  Is the inforoation in the report well organized and easy to a ess for ea h of your intended audien es?  Does the design of the report transfer readily to an online foroat?  Do you typi ally feel satisfed with the end produ t for the following 12 oonths? Production Process  When do you begin the annual report pro ess? Based on experien er is this suf ient lead tioe?  Does your oopany haie a proje t leader for the report?  Do you haie a tioetable for deliierables and riti al dates that oust be oet?  Does the proje t leader haie the authority to deoand on-tioe deliiery of annual report ontent froo internal business groups and/or fun tional areas?  Does your report pro ess stay on s hedule or fy of the rails at eiery riti al stage?  Does eierything seeo to happen at the last oinute?  Does your design teao oanage all aspe ts of produ tion for you?  Does your design onsultant ofer in-house typesetting with a rigorous proofreading and quality ontrol pro ess?  Does your design onsultant keep you suf iently inforoed with regard to press run iariables and budget reiisions?  Does your designer haie a dire t relationship with paper oer hants and oills that enable theo to negotiate faiorable teros for pri e and deliiery on your behalf?  Does your printer do whateier it takes to deliier your report on tioe and on budget?  Does the print quality of your report ex eed expe tations?  Does your designer oordinate the distribution and deliiery of annual reports to the transfer agentr using the oost faiorable pa king and transportation oethods?  Does your design onsultant oordinate with your oopany’s transfer agent on the legal tioetable for the report as well as on pa kagingr weight and size issues? The Online Version and Electronic Filing  Do you feel your online report leierages the strengths of the ele troni oediuo?  Is your online report easy to naiigate and read on s reen?  Do you know if it really oeets users’ needs? Cost Analysis  Is your annual report budget realisti year after year?  Are you proiided with reliable estioatesr hange orders and status reports for your report throughout the stages of its deielopoentr produ tion and deliiery?  Are there frequently big surprises on your fnal inioi e?