Aside from fulfilling legal requirements, an annual report tells the company story in plain English. More than that, a major purpose of an annual report is to convince current shareholders to let their money ride where it's at and to attract new investors. That means an annual report is a very important corporate sales tool and must be treated with respect. Such reports will open with a company profile, feature a letter from the chairman and establish a theme for telling the company story. Such reports will run from two to twenty pages or more in length, be peppered with photographs, bar and pie graphs with attendant tables plus the above mentioned underlying theme. Annual Reports can be printed on plain paper, glossy, one hundred pound book stock or on anything in between. Here are some basic guidelines for creating one.

Collect background information and familiarize yourself with the company by studying past annual reports for style, content and thrust. Study analyst's reports to find out what the investment community has to say about your company. Then check other competing companies' past annual reports for positioning. Listen to conference calls on tapes to discover current trends and tone. Then investigate what's been written about your company in the financial press. Remember, the annual report is above all a selling piece aimed at satisfying current investors and attracting new money.

Conduct personal interviews with department heads. Then interview the Corporate Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer. Ask a lot of questions. Not just mindless questions, but pertinent questions as to what happened, is happening now, and what is likely to happen in the coming year. Something of interest had to happen during the last year, and that "something" is likely going to be the main theme of your piece! That "something" is the thrust of the company, moving from point "a" to point "b". If they were successful, they will be proud of their efforts and on their way to point "c". This corporate journey and the money made or lost along the way is what an annual report is all about.

Listen well! Zero in on what your contact is telling you and interact at the appropriate time with pertinent questions that will either clarify or spur the person on to cover new ground. You want all the information you can get. Later, you can pick through it, selecting the best examples that will enhance the chosen theme. Gathering accurate and coherent information is paramount to success.

Be professional in your bearing, your appearance and your actions. The corporate people you interview are anxious to help you produce the best possible report, as their future depends on it. So, don't be nervous about dealing with such people. Turn the experience in to a win/win situation! If they wear suits or business clothes, you do the same. Position yourself on their level, and be a professional! If the person you are interviewing is the C.E.O. of a company, fine. You are the C.E.O. of your company- shake hands, and say hello.

Your research and the accompanying interviews will provide all the timely information you and interested investors will need to know about the company, where it's been, what it is doing and where it's going. Your research will raise questions for you, so write them down as they present themselves. Remember, these executives are busy people, so have a well thought list of questions ready, a legal pad for notes, and a portable tape recorder for backup in case memory fails- after all, you are dealing with a lot of information from several sources. Having to meet again to go over information these people have already given you would be unprofessional. However, if you need elaboration or confirmation on specific points, by all means call them. Be courteous, and ask for permission to use your tape recorder during your interview or on the phone, as some people have an aversion to them. Watch out for conflicting information and deal with it appropriately by pointing it out to the annual report team leader in a tactful manner. Shoot for consistency.

Be a team player! You'll be working with senior officials, department heads, accountants, a photographer, a graphic designer and a printer, so do your part to make the project unfold as smoothly as possible. Pay attention to detail, be helpful and interact positively with the other team players. Above all, complete your work on time! Missing deadlines will hold up the process. Your job is to write the theme section and perhaps the Chairman's letter. If not, you'll probably edit it and maybe clean up the company profile on the inside cover of the report as well.

Sometimes, you'll be asked to help select or create the theme of a report. If so, here is where you can show your creativity, however, place your client's goals first. A company's annual report is a major sales piece. It can make a difference in your client's success, so it had better be good. Mess it up, and it will affect your career too! Remember, your job as a writer is communicating with investors, not trying to win some kind of an industry award, so stay focused. Keep it clean, keep it simple! That's right, don't make readers scratch their heads trying to figure out what you are talking about.

Show some class and do the job right. There is no place for mechanical errors in an annual report. Poor writing suggests poor management and could defeat the mission of this most important sales device. Get up to speed on grammar and spelling. Get a modern style manual and study it until you understand what it is trying to teach you. If you have any doubts, hire a professional editor to double check your work for accuracy.

Heads up! Double check all dates and numbers in your text against any tables or other supportive information supplied by other team members. All examples must agree or someone will surely notice, and heads will roll. If any other team members' numbers differ, find out why! You don't want to shoulder the blame for such an error, especially after printing. Life's too short!

The author of this web site, William L. Lampe is available for
Business Communications, Technical and Copy Writing assignments
through his Editorial Services Consulting Agency,
The A-Company, established 1970.