Annual report
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An Annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are required by publicly traded companies, but some small businesses with multiple owners provide their shareholders with a form of annual reports.
The information annual reports contain must be accurate, but they are not the legal document that serves as the official report of the annual performance of a publicly traded company. In the United States, publicly-traded companies must submit a more-detailed version of the report, called a Form 10-K, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance.
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Typical contents of an annual report
The following types of content can typically be found in an annual report of a large, publicly traded, company. They can be adapted for smaller, privately held companies who wish to prepare an annual report for shareholders or employees.
General information
- Chairman's report
- CEO's report
- Auditor's report on corporate governance
- Mission statement
- Corporate governance statement of compliance
- Statement of directors' responsibilities
- Review of year's activities, initiative, challenges and successes
Financial statements
- Auditor's report on the financial statements
- Balance sheet
- Statement of retained earnings
- Income statement
- Cash flow statement
- Notes to the financial statements
- Accounting policies
Other information deemed relevant to stakeholders may be included, such as a report on operations for manufacturing firms or corporate social responsibility reports for companies with environmentally- or socially-sensitive operations.
