Coping with annual reports on the web
Professional responses
In a joint paper presented at the Fourth World Continuous Auditing and Reporting Symposium last year, Andrew Lymer (University of Birmingham) and Roger Debreceny (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) argue that 'the auditing profession's responses to internet financial reporting are an inadequate response to the technological developments'.
One of the main developments is XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), a financial reporting language billed as the most significant tool since the invention of the spreadsheet program.
XBRL is likely to become a new technology standard for how companies collect, share and disclose financial information to investors.
As professional communicators, we are best qualified to lead the way forward in web communication — past the convenient PDF dumping box. At the very least, we can considerably improve the text of printed annual reports by applying many of the same guidelines for web writing.
In the UK the starting point remains the printed annual report rather than the web. But, as web communication becomes more sophisticated, the traditional annual report is likely to evolve into a less promotional and more functional document.
As IFAC suggests, every company would benefit from an Internet Reporting Policy. This should include a communications strategy on how information will be made available and presented onscreen.
While detailing control procedures, the strategy should also make the most of the web's unique communication facilities — hyperlinking, multimedia and interactivity.
Like a box of chocolates, annual reports can — and should — delight visitors, offering choice and blending in harmoniously with the rest of the corporate website.
Next: Sources referred to
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