Corporate Reporting

A key component in corporate reporting is an annual corporate report. What is an annual report? It is a comprehensive report intended to give information to shareholders and other interested people about a company's activities and financial performance throughout the preceding year. Most jurisdictions require companies to prepare and disclose an annual corporate report, and many require each annual report to be filed at the company's registry. Companies listed on a stock exchange are required to engage in corporate reporting  at more frequent intervals (depending on the rules of the stock exchange involved).

Typically, an annual report will include:

• Chairman's report (Note: whether the person is a woman or man, business convention is to use the title "chairman.")
• CEO's report
• Auditor's report on corporate governance
• Mission statement
• Corporate governance statement of compliance
• Statement of directors' responsibilities
• Invitation to the company's AGM

Annual company reports should also include financial report statements including:

• Auditor's report on 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 in an annual report. This may include corporate reporting on operations for manufacturing firms or corporate social responsibility reporting for organizations with environmentally or socially sensitive operations. For many larger companies, the annual corporate report will usually be presented as a sleek, colorful, high gloss publication.

Annual Financial Report
In addition to a company’s annual corporate report, a comprehensive annual financial report also serves a number of corporate reporting purposes for the general public, investors and other interested groups. One of the most significant purposes of a comprehensive financial report is to provide  valuable insight into how an organization manages public finances.

Corporate Reporting Awards
Canada’s Corporate Reporting Awards (CRA) are the most prestigious and coveted national awards for corporate reporting. They are also the only national awards program that recognizes excellence and best practices in corporate reporting.

The Corporate Reporting Awards are presented annually during a gala evening hosted by the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) Canada. Awards are presented for excellence in financial reporting, corporate governance disclosure, electronic disclosure and sustainable development reporting.

CCGG Governance Gavel Awards
CCGG Governance Gavel Awards were created in 2005 to recognize excellence in communications by large issuers with shareholders through their annual proxy circular. The initial focus of the Governance Gavel Awards was on executive compensation disclosure and the communication of director qualifications and board practices to shareholders.
As communications and governance practices have evolved and shareholder engagement has become a cornerstone of good governance, CCGG has expanded the Governance Gavel Awards to recognize issuers who:

• meet CCGG’s Building High Performance Boards guidelines, develop and maintain exceptional disclosure practices, and actively engage all shareholders
• make substantial progress in improving their governance, disclosure and shareholder engagement practices, and
• are leaders in the small- and medium-sized issuer segments of the Canadian capital markets in governance, disclosure and shareholder engagement.

Canadian Coalition for Good Governance Announces the Recipients of the 2011 Governance Gavel Awards
Recipients of the 2011 Governance Gavel Awards, presented at the 13^th Annual Corporate Governance Conference, hosted by the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries (CSCS) in Quebec City on August 22:

• Best Disclosure of Board Governance Practices and Director Qualifications
  Canadian National Railway
• Best Disclosure of Approach to Executive Compensation
  Toronto-Dominion Bank
• Best Disclosure of Governance Practices and Approach to Executive Compensation by a Small or Mid-Sized Issuer
  Manitoba Telecom Services Inc.