Preparing a good annual report;

              ANNUAL REPORTS are attracting more attention today
than ever before. This is not surprising when one considers
the magnitude of the business expansion that has been
taking place across the country, both in the number of
new businesses and in the size of existing ones. Not only
are there more shareholders or owners vitally concerned
with the progress of the business concerns in which they
have a financial stake, but there is an ever-increasing
number of other persons whose livelihood is connected
in one way or another with the success of particular com­panies.
There is also the fast-expanding group of analysts,
brokers and dealers who are continually reviewing and
assessing the progress being made by business concerns in
order to be sufficiently informed to advise on investments.
Mounting Demand for Informative Reports
All these interested persons are looking more and more
to the annual reports of business concerns for results and
trends of operations and for information on future plans.
The requirements of these persons vary considerably as
regards the extent of detailed information they would
like to have included in annual reports. They are all
anxious to be well informed, however, and are becoming
increasingly vocal in expressing their views on the short­comings
of annual reports in such areas as financial
presentation, uniformity in the application of accounting
principles, and management reporting in general.
If the particular requirements of the readers of annual
reports are to be fully met, it seems obvious that a con­siderable
amount of advance planning is necessary. It is
the purpose of this article to review how the job of
preparing a good annual report should be tackled and
what material should be included. It has already been said
John B. Wight of our Montreal office was admitted to
partnership in the firm in 1957. He graduated from
McGill University in 1947 with a Bachelor of Commerce
degree, and in 1950 was admitted to the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Quebec. He joined P. S. Ross
and Sons in 1953. In addition to his writing, Mr. Wight
is active in many community activities, including work
with University Graduates as well as with churches and
charitable organizations.
28 THE QUARTERLY