Cato is a former corporate officer, as well as a journalist and author of a book on coping with grief.

In his June issue, he hailed two reports, both of which included the legalistic Form 10-K—"never intended for public consumption; rather, it's a filing required, at least of U.S. corporations, by the Securities & Exchange Commission."

He said the annuals of Seattle-situated Safeco and Baltimore-based Constellation Energy "both took unique approaches to the prime corporate communiqué."

The former, though, fell four points short of achieving what Cato calls "world-class" status—that is, scoring at least 100 of a potential 135 points against his copyrighted criteria. Constellation, whose predecessor, Baltimore Gas & Electric, produced the very first annual ever—this, in 1823—scored 108 of a potential 135 points with its 2003 effort.