In the July issue of his long-running (since September 1983) annual report newsletter, Sid Cato singled out two major corporations that have taken the SEC-encouraged step.

He said Texaco in its 1997 report "devoted a page...concerning what it's trying to accomplish" in the way of making the document more understandable to stockholders.

Cato described Baltimore Gas and Electric as "a pioneer" in the movement—"one of the few (that we have first-hand knowledge of) to enlist in the SEC’s praiseworthy effort to make clearer annual reports as well as other filings."

Is the "plain English" campaign working? "Not so’s you could tell," Cato wrote in his newsletter, Issue No. 179. He likened it to the 1987 SEC admonition that companies should make "more meaningful" their MD&As — the back-of-the-book Management’s Discussion & Analysis of Operations. And has he perceived improvement in that area? "Not a whit," he said.

An author and journalist, Cato is a former corporate officer "closely involved" with annuals "more than a quarter-century." Subscribers to his monthly newsletter range from corporate chieftains to vice presidents for finance, accounting and graphic design, as well as corporate communications and investor relations.