IR Communication Insights

With the growing number of eco-conscious investors, environment-related regulatory changes and the transition towards the decarbonised economy, transparency in reporting ESG metrics has become a crucial element for businesses in recent years. Companies are under the radar for conducting sustainable business operations and to incorporate the same into their reporting process.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) are designed to help investors looking to track equity markets while applying a best-in-class sustainability selection process.

Today, companies across the globe take their turn in the spotlight for the impact they have on the business world and society at large. Therefore, there is a very urgent need for them to be transparent in everything that they do. It’s mandatory for them to do annual reporting and now, it’s become equally essential to focus on non-financial reporting.

In India, every company must be registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (under Section 217 of the Companies Act, 2013) and must submit an Annual Report at the end of the financial year. This report contains summaries of the business operations and the financial position. It offers a proper picture of how the business has performed in the last year and must be presented to shareholders, potential investors, and analysts.

All companies across the globe use their Annual Report as a means of showcasing their work culture and successes. Besides these key elements, this report is also a great means of marketing and promotion, with the intent of inviting more people to fund or invest in these companies. However, it’s not just enough to quickly put together facts and financial figures and present them to an audience. An Annual Report needs to be designed, structured carefully, and properly actually to be effective.

All companies across the globe use their Annual Report as a means of showcasing their work culture and successes. Besides these key elements, this report is also a great means of marketing and promotion, with the intent of inviting more people to fund or invest in these companies. However, it’s not just enough to quickly put together facts and financial figures and present them to an audience. An Annual Report needs to be designed, structured carefully, and properly actually to be effective.

An Annual Report is a comprehensive corporate report that gives an in-depth explanation of an organization's activities for an entire financial year. Since there is a lot of information to put into this report, it’s crucial that it is also designed properly, to have the right impact on shareholders and potential investors. Therefore, you need to come up with an Annual Report design that will get your audience’s attention and keep them engaged from start to finish.

Though still at a nascent stage in India, disclosures related to ESG are soon becoming a norm, with stakeholders and regulatory bodies demanding better reporting of non-financial performance from organisations. Addressing the need to extend and enhance the ESG disclosures in India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched the new Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework in May 2021 to replace the existing Business Responsibility Reporting (BRR) framework.

Though still at a nascent stage in India, disclosures related to ESG are soon becoming a norm, with stakeholders and regulatory bodies demanding better reporting of non-financial performance from organisations.

Issues such as climate change, emissions, pollution, social inequality, discrimination at work and many others have been plaguing the world for a long time now.

The company annual report benefits everyone. They are important for investor relations, and in building a company brand.

The modern annual report is written, typed and printed. What’s next?

Traditional annual reports are hardly engaging. Boring figures and lengthy tables are just the beginning.

There is a reason why annual reports are considered as essential pieces of internal business communication.

Annual reports offer the perfect opportunity for a company to highlight its key results from the last year.

Investor Relations (IR) is an important aspect of managing communications between investors and a company’s corporate management.

Making investors unhappy is not good for business. A cardinal rule for an investor relations manager is to prevent a company-investor relationship to go sour.

Social challenges continue to swarm corporates. Almost every advertisement, social media post, employee communication and annual report speaks of societal challenges.

NGOs (non-governmental organizations) also publish annual reports. The report details all aspects of the NGOs dealings for the past year.

Every organization wants to contribute to a sustainable environment. Sustainability reporting, along with CSR reporting, is a type of non-financial reporting.

It’s the annual report season. A lot of effort goes into gathering data that goes into an annual report. This data is a combination of figures, statistics, and text.

Traditional investor relations websites are ordinary. They have mediocre design, poor optimization and the layout is static.

Financials take a back seat in a non-profit organization’s annual report. A non-profit annual report is dominated by snapshots of community projects and their achievements.

We are approaching the end of 2019. It’s the annual report season, which means, it’s that time of the year when corporates start planning their annual report.

Annual reports serve multiple purposes. First, your company’s financial information is presented in a structured manner.

You can’t avoid it. Publishing an annual report is mandatory for the listed companies in India. Instead of looking at it as an obligation, companies should consider this an opportunity.

Indian companies are focusing exclusively on community engagement, corporate governance, and environmental issues.

An annual report is a powerful business communication tool. It doesn’t just recap your company’s performance for the past year but also influences investor relations.

Designing a professional, visually-enriching annual report requires expertise. Releasing an annual report is a mandatory compliance for corporate companies in India.

An engaging annual report design needs planning, preparation and stunning visuals for appeal. The communication within the report needs to be clear.

An annual report is made up of collated data and crunched numbers. A successful annual report engages, educates & impresses the reader.

Ah, annual reports! The company report cards. A perfect platform for companies to show-off their record-breaking revenue, their call-to-arms to company personnel, and to deliver a healthy report to the company stakeholders.

Change is a business norm. It is relative, it is uncertain and trend-setting. This stands for annual reports as well.

In 2019, Annual Reports have come far from being merely a legal requirement, and go beyond an aggregate of balance sheets.

Nearing the end of fiscal, we often get asked by clients whether they should stick with a printed Annual Report or consider a digital interactive version.

Over the year, the role of IROS have changed substantially. Investment trends, legal scrutinies and the pursuit for capital advantage by competing companies have been impetus to this change.

The term ‘Annual Report’ has prompted visions of books filled to the edge with boring language and tedious balance sheets.

Companies in India are coming of age and this warrants well-articulated, progressive corporate statements like Annual Reports that are able to hook global investors.

The quicksilver pace at which the market fluctuates a thing may be true one moment and not the next moment.

The world is shifting from desktop devices to mobile engagements. While this shift is underway, your mobile phone is becoming a vital storytelling medium.

Annual reports are usually looked upon as necessary financial literature. However, there are ways to transform these data-dense reports to tell your brand story.

An Annual Report is synonymous with number crunching and data collation. But it doesn’t have to be so for your readers.

Data visualisation is a powerful tool that you can use to transform the way your users consume data. An MIT study proved that the human brain can process images in as fast as 13 milliseconds!!