Freelance corporate writer Richard Ketchen has released a study of the online annual reports and reporting practices of Canada's largest public companies.
“The production quality of the annual reports of most of Canada’s top public companies is testament to the importance of these reports,” says Ketchen. He adds, however, that “the move to interactive HTML and fully segmented PDF reports is proving a slow transition.”
Ketchen’s study analyzes the most recent online annual reports of the 207 component companies of the Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index. In doing so, it considers two questions: Are Canada’s largest public companies making the most of the Internet to improve corporate reporting? Do their online annual reports make it easier for investors to find, read and understand relevant information?
Study findings include the following:
* Just 13% of companies produced an annual report in HTML format.
* Only 71% of companies provided a table of contents to aid navigation even though the average annual report length was 101 pages.
* Fully 82% of companies published a complete report, while merely 13% published a summary report.
Ketchen observes that “online annual reports remain largely rooted in traditional formats.” And he goes on to say that, “unfortunately, these can formats create readability and usability problems for investors, who increasingly use the Internet to learn about a company and to make investment decisions.”
To view or download the complete Online Annual Report Study, visit http://richardketchen.com/
