1.	Annual report producers don't get paid all that much, indicating the low esteem in which their companies hold them. True or false? Answer: You decide: Their average salary today (based on my 15th annual Producer Poll) is in the $80,000-$95,000 range, no small potatoes if you ask me. Even if that is off 7.5 percent year to year. We all should be so well-compensated.
	2.	When a company like Canada's Ivaco runs 20 years of financial data, you tend to go more gently than if it presented the bare minimum. True or false? Answer: Funny you should ask. Yes, I hailed Ivaco for including data for 20 years. But I also noted its score, regardless, was a measly 45 points (of a possible 135), its positive/negative rating very much the latter: -4.5 percent.
	3.	You are strongly opposed to the new SEC's "No more secrets" stance. True or false? Answer: On the contrary, I've long advocated just such an approach. More than 10 years ago (Peoples Express was still in business; that gives you an idea of how long ago it actually was), I challenged members of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) chapter, meeting in Saddle River, New Jersey, to tell me I was in error when I charged them with "systematic, daily, routine leaking of insider information to a select group of investors"—the pros. At the expense of the individual shareholder. I told them I was acquainted with only one corporation—Coca-Cola—whose standards coincide with those I subscribe to. Its contact with Wall Street is closely monitored by its legal department, which has to sign off on each analyst briefing before another inquiry can be fielded. In other words, it keeps a tight rein on potential dispensers of inside information. How unfair what most companies do to the individual shareholder. Talk about an unlevel playing field!
	4.	If a producer—say, that of the General Motors report—takes issue with your commentary, your first reaction is to savage the complainer. True or false? Answer: I think that's pretty much everyone's initial reaction, followed (one hopes) by a more-balanced approach. What teed me off when GM's producer complained about my disliking her report was when she bum-rapped her "good friends at Ford" but asked that her putdown be kept "between us boys." All my complaints, all my taking companies to task, is done publicly. I'd think much better of a protester if he—or, in this instance, she—were willing to stand up and be counted. Put her money where her mouth is, to use the familiar expression. Putting down your colleagues in this business, but asking that your comments be kept private, doesn't cut it with me.
	5.	You savaged the Standard Register report a decade ago, as I recall. But you tend to go overboard when a "bad actor," in your words, "sees the light." True or false? Answer: I admit to being overjoyed when an earlier "bad actor" gets the message, starts producing a report that's truly meaningful—that is, adheres to my criteria (copyrighted) on what makes a good annual report. But the fact that SR went from being taken to task a decade ago to making this year's "world-class" list with its 102 points—that does excite me, I admit.