Four touchstones to raise your game in corporate reporting

On Tuesday 12 November, I had the pleasure of attending PwC’s annual Building Trust Awards (PBTA) Dinner at London’s prestigious and historic Science Museum. The event was as inspiring as the venue, bringing together leaders in corporate reporting from across many sectors, who are blazing a trail for others to follow. As in previous years, the awards provided the attendees at the dinner – and the wider community of interested organisations – with a snapshot of what the best of the best looks like in this constantly-evolving area. 

In my previous blog following this year’s PBTA judging panels, I explored wider trends in the corporate reporting landscape. As I highlighted then, the rising tide of reporting regulation is requiring organisations to disclose more and more information, especially on non-financial and ESG aspects such as impacts on climate and people. As this regulatory burden grows, it seems the time and effort required just to comply means many companies have less scope or leeway for innovation in their reporting. 

However, as we witnessed at the dinner, the leaders are avoiding this pitfall and continuing to raise the bar on reporting quality. In doing so, they’re showing their commitment to building trust through open, fair and insightful corporate disclosures. Over the course of the evening, we saw – and heard from – company after company who are setting a lead for other organisations seeking to do the same.

What sets the leaders apart? 

So, what common characteristics set these leaders apart from the rest? Both in our judging panels and the comments from the award winners and presenters at the dinner, I felt that four themes came across loud and clear. 

1. A coherent, compelling story – in plain English  

During one of the judging panels, as the members discussed the increasing size of many annual reports, one judge observed: “We’re losing the storytelling.” Other panellists commented on the use of language, praising companies that avoid jargon and explain complex topics in plain English. 

However, they also stressed that effective storytelling involves more than words. These days, a further aspect is smart use of charts and infographics. Equally important is an authentic tone, such as where the distinctive voice of the CEO or Chair shines through. And underpinning the best narrative reporting is a strong strategic backbone, explaining why the business has done what it’s done, and why the outcomes matter. 

2.  A clear view of materiality 

To avoid reporting too much information and obscuring the core story, it’s vital that a business decides which information really matters – and is clear about why. This enables the reporting to focus on what is material to the business. Also, as strategic, societal and environmental factors become more material, these need to be integrated into the story. This was why the judges paid particular attention to each organisation’s materiality statement, which provides the baseline for what the company has decided to report. 

3. A stakeholder lens 

Today, all organisations need to build trust with a wide range of stakeholders – not just investors, but regulators, employees, customers, NGOs and more. Reporting provides a great opportunity to do this, but only so long as the company is clear about who it’s communicating with, why, and what messages it wants to get across. 

So the judges were seeking clarity on how an organisation balances the needs of different stakeholders as it tackles external factors and faces up to difficult decisions. This clarity includes providing details of how it engages with its various stakeholders, and how it incorporates the feedback they provide into the choices and actions it takes. 

4. Interactivity and accessibility 

In each category of the awards, the judges looked more favourably on those reports that enabled the reader to interact with different parts of the content in different ways using technology. This often involves providing web links and QR codes to access additional information, and sometimes videos of senior leaders or employees to bring the narrative to life. These approaches also help to keep the annual report itself shorter and more concise, aiding storytelling. 

Learning from the leaders 

For me, these were the four touchstones for building trust through reporting that came across most strongly during the BTA judging panels and dinner event. As the burden of regulation continues to increase, I think they’ll become even more important. 

But don’t just take my word for it. To see these attributes in action, I urge you to have a look at the reporting from the PBTA winners and highly-commended organisations. As you’ll see, building trust requires going the extra mile. But any organisation can do this if it puts its mind to it. Are you ready to do so?