1.	The annual report on the Internet is everything corporations and investors hoped it would be. True or false? Answer: Not true. First, there is no such thing as "an annual report website"—not unless you're talking about Sid Cato's Official Annual Report WebsiteŽ. Over several weeks, I've monitored this supposedly burgeoning genre. Only Southern Co. acquitted itself well, getting a grade of A+. All the others had ability to view its annual report accessible only via a maze, the path through which was dependent on one's best guesses. Putting it another way, if you want to check out a company's annual report, be prepared to pick and choose the clues—and, even then, don't count on achieving success, instant or otherwise.
	2.	If one wants to get a copy of an annual report, he or she can order it online. True or false? Answer: Theoretically. Reality is something quite different. A year or so ago, Chevron fulfilled its promise and forwarded a report with dispatch. This year, after eventually reaching the Ameritech website (after detouring around a similarly named site in Fishers, Ind.), it took two weeks to obtain a report. Cisco Systems said it wasn't set up to handle online requests, referring Internet visitors to—the telephone, a Ma Bell invention!
	3.	The technologically adept company seldom shows it has blood running through its corporate veins—that is, that it's human, cares about the individual. True or false? Answer: False, certainly in the case of Lucent Technologies (the people who "make the things that make things work"). Its 1998 annual report features perhaps the year's best photographs of its officer corps. Real, lively (or, if you prefer, live) photos of its executives at work. Credit one Gloria Baker. Another company deserving of plaudits is Norfolk Southern, which pictured workers on all levels—fully identified.
	4.	Isn't it true you never, ever get invited back—after you've made a speech, that is. Indicating what audiences think of you. Answer: False, I guess you'd have to say, in view of the fact that the Milwaukee, Wis., annual report community invited me to speak Oct. 8 at a luncheon meeting at the city Athletic Club. I spoke in Milwaukee previously 12 years ago. April 15, 1987—on Income Tax Day. Go figure.
	5.	I hear you suck up to the 75 men and women who attend your annual "International Annual Report Conference," as you so pompously call it. Isn't this true? Answer: First off, it is international, assuming one views South Africa, Australia, Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom as such. Men and women from those countries will be at New Orleans for Conference No. 12. Second, one visitor will be attending from Bindley Western Industries, another from Cinergy, both of whose "online annuals" I found terribly wanting—even the matter of accessing them. I do, granted, praise Norfolk Southern's report, and its producer will be with us. But I also criticize the Summit Bancorp report, as well as Scotiabank's, RLI Corp.'s and Tribune Company's—each of which has had attendees at my conference. I refer to the Reuters report, and Manitowoc's, both of which are excluded from consideration from Top 10 status because their boards of directors as pictured are seen to exclude women and/or minorities. Producers of both of those reports will be in attendance.
	6.	When you talk about the annual report worldwide, you're really just referring to U.S. reports. No? Answer: No. So far currently, one in 11 reports (9% of my universe) is from abroad—from Bahrain to Poland to the Czech Republic to Mexico to Finland, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand. If that's not international, I don't know what is.