He said the 1999 report of Canada's Intrawest "is nothing if not kicky, progressive—like a teen's music magazine. Outsized, outrageous, in your face."

So what's wrong with it?

While "no annual report in memory is appropriately more exciting," Cato said that "the report is a multi-part document"—a Cato no-no. He said he sees the multi-part document as a "not-so-subtle segue to a summary report, the main document containing no financials whatsoever—or, at best, truncated data."

Cato said Intrawest's 1999 report, despite its appearance and content, scored but 65 of a potential 135 points against his copyrighted criteria. Its positive rating, though, is 13.9%, "more than twice the early average of 5.4%" among annuals produced by companies on a fiscal-year basis.

Concluded Cato: "Reservations aside, this indeed is a keeper." Meaning, he said: "I like it! I like it!"