Ultimately, we need to assess what
role the corporate report should play, and who it should be aimed at. If it is widely felt that annual reports rank relatively low among users’ sources, then should serious efforts be made to overhaul them? Or, given that preliminary and interim results (without the accompanying full report) can move the markets and lead to a company’s shares being a ‘buy’ or ‘sell’ recommendation, does this show that the annual report now adds little value?