Methodologie

Every year our reporting clients want to know what competitors and peers are doing to tell their stories. Glossy narrative annual reports? CSR section on the corporate website? All of the above plus a singing telegram? Or do they just send a newsprint 10-K to shareholders and call it good? (For the record, that’s not OK unless your only audience is the SEC.)

Thus was born our annual survey of the Fortune 100’s corporate reporting practices. It’s not exactly hard science, but it is a thorough snapshot of how corporate leaders are communicating and what they’re communicating about.

A couple highlights:

One-third of Fortune 100 companies did not report online
This is shocking, really. Granted, as a firm that produces reports, we’re a little biased. But the Internet is the first—and sometimes the only—source of information for most people. By the way, “most people” includes investors, customers, employees, partners, journalists, and activists. We’ll let you connect the dots.

Two-thirds of companies reported on CSR efforts and performance
CSR reports may not yet be a mandate, but they will be soon: with 63 out of 100 companies reporting on sustainability, those that don’t are behind the curve. If your organization doesn’t believe it’s necessary to talk about sustainability and CSR, come talk to us. You don’t even have to hire us. Seriously.

The review also covers:

How many companies produce a narrative report?
What form do the reports take (print, online, PDF, etc.)?
How long are narrative sections?
How many companies produce stand-alone CSR reports vs. those that produce a combined annual report/CSR report?
How many reports used the GRI framework as their reporting index?

And much more.

Download the Methodologie Annual Review of Corporate Reports.