Annually, Methodologie reviews and assesses the annual reports and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports for the Fortune 100 companies. We look for trends by reviewing each of the companies reports, looking at the size, scope, content and the types of digital formats, and whether theyre printing the report or not. We also report on trends such as changes in the adoption of current standards for CSR reports, level of brand integration, use of technology and level of integration of the two reports.
Reporting Trends
Here are some highlights from this years (2014) report:
A majority of companies are continuing to leverage annual reports to communicate more than the standard financial requirements by going beyond 10-K reporting. We still see room for improvement in their overall storyline and transparency.
Integrated reporting is not being heavily adopted. Integration seems like a logical concept: report and align on how you act on the values of your brand as a part of your financial picture. In reality, its a much more complex practice and can have a fundamental change in the way you do business to report these together. Transition planning is critical.
More CSR content is appearing in sections of the annual report, which indicates that companies are thinking about integration and its significance.
The slight increase in CSR reporting overall may be attributable to the changing Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and a desire to let the dust settle out between GRI3 and GRI4.
The use of GRI reporting format and letters of assurance increased significantly. Both of these increases are great; however, the more systematic that reporting becomes, the more important it is that the strategic narrative should be told in the report so that the numbers provide a comprehensive and compelling storyline to support the brand.
Responsive Design
We were curious to see how many companies are leveraging responsive design for their digital experience. Responsive design is an approach to creating digital sites that provides optimal viewing across a broad range of devices. This is the first time weve recorded responsive design in the reporting, and we believe it will continue to increase significantly over time. We strongly recommend responsive design to our clients, because the smartphone ubiquity means that often its the first platform where people connect with you.
Please take a look at the report itself for more details and trends. We would also be happy to meet with you and share more insights and the details of who specifically did what with their reports. Lets get together to have a conversation about what this might mean to you and your organization
