ABSTRACT
Annual reports must feature recent financial information, a year-to-year comparison of financial figures, and a description of the organization’s upper-level management and a discussion of the company’s goals. Annual reports, therefore, are serious, fact-laden documents. The legally specified audience for an annual report is a company’s stockholders. Annual reports should have a clear theme. They should not hide bad news. They should be specific and present information in a variety of ways, including charts, enlarged quotations and photographs with captions. The format of an annual report defies concise description. Again, many annual reports have the format and appearance of a glossy magazine: an attractive cover, a table of contents, sections with titles and dozens of pages with type, photographs and charts. Annual reports often have five sections. Many annual reports close with information about the board of directors and other high-ranking company officials. This section often simply lists names and titles under individual photographs.
