RY launches latest 'How does it stack up?' research

Radley Yeldar’s ‘How does it stack up?’ 2018 shows significant improvement to reporting as new Financial Reporting Council guidance comes into effect.

LandSec secured first place for a third consecutive year, with four new entrants in the top 10 based on RY’s annual examination of FTSE100 reports. Radley Yeldar released the 13^th edition of the agency’s annual ‘How does it stack up?’ report, now recognised as an industry benchmark for best practice and a tool to help companies improve their annual reporting.LandSec topped the index for the third year running. New entrants to the top ten include AstraZeneca, British Land, Croda and Severn Trent.The top ten annual reports of 2018:

Ranking 2018 Ranking 2017 Company

1. 1 LandSec

2. 3 Mondi

3. 5 BT

4. 7 United Utilities

5. 2 Vodafone

6. New entry British Land

7. New entry Croda

8. Fresnillo

9. New entry Severn Trent

10. New entrry AstraZeneca

2019 will be the first year that companies will be working in compliance with the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)’s updates to the Corporate Governance Code, which came into effect on 1^st January 2019. It advocates that an organisation’s purpose should be linked directly to its business model, strategic objectives and executive remuneration.

Similarly, recently-revised guidance on the strategic report urges businesses to put their purpose into context in their annual reports, emphasising that their purpose, strategy, objectives and business model are interrelated concepts.

RY has seen noteworthy improvement in the quality of reporting in 2018, which reflects many of the themes in the new guidance, and how companies are preparing for it. 

Brett Simnett, investor engagement consultancy director at RY, said

“2019 represents a fundamental shift in reporting with the new guidance on the strategic report and the UK Corporate Governance Code from the FRC coming into force. The new European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) is also one year away from coming into law. With the general uncertainty around Brexit, companies need to focus on setting out their long-term viability and how they bring value to the wider community.”

About ‘How does it stack up?’

The ‘How does it stack up?’ research is a practical tool created 13 years ago by RY to promote best practice and give all companies access to thinking that could establish or keep them at the forefront of reporting. It seeks to assist in successfully engaging key stakeholders from shareholders, employees and community organisations to the media and customers

Methodology

The research uses 15 criteria, which are grouped into four categories, to assess annual reports: understanding the business and context, explaining and measuring performance, business sustainability and effective storytelling. RY uses its experience as a design consultancy to widen the focus away from just pure compliance, instead judging the quality, depth, transparency and coherence of the content and how easily it’s accessed.

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