Writing Good Annual Reports and Press Releases

Good Writing
ANNUAL REPORTS AND PRESS RELEASES


Writing Good Annual Reports

Although the typical annual report today is not much more than a wrapped 10K, a potential investor still appreciates clear writing. A must-read publication is A Plain English Handbook: How to Create Clear SEC Disclosure Documents, by the SEC. Try looking at an annual report from the reader's standpoint by reading How to Efficiently Read an Annual Report at Investopedia. Below are additional tips on good annual report writing.

Sid Cato, an annual report writer, offers a wealth of tips and articles.
Maloy Financial, an IR firm, gives tips on writing annual reports and financial writing in general.
Tips for Writing an Annual Report from the Annual Report Library. If they reorganize their site and this page goes away, try looking on their home page
Look at the winners of the Annual Report Competition from MerCommAwards. If they reorganize their site and this page goes away, try looking on their home page
In 2001, Merrill Lynch published a study showing that statistically the longer a 10K filing the lower the company's stock performance. ZDII published an article detailing the study called "The bigger the annual report, the harder the fall". The magazine site reorganized and the article disappeared. So here is a Text-Only Version. Interesting, the following year (2002) in the wake of Enron and other scandals corporate reports were longer than ever, as companies tried to cover all their bases.


Writing Good Press Releases

Using any of the search engines you can find a number of good articles on journalistic practices.

3 Tips for Writing a Good Press Release from the National Federation of Independent business. If they reorganize and the link disappears, here is a text only version.
How to Write a Press Release from Wiki How.
The Traditional Press Release Is Dead by B. L. Ochman. If she reorganizes go to the WhatsNextOnlne.com Home Page. --or if the article disappears totally, here is a text version in which the links will probably no longer work. This is a very good article which stresses the format and the brevity needed for releases to be read online.