Sid Cato -- November 2004 Quiz Answers

(Answers for November 2004)

1. You function pretty much as a one-man show, without regular contact with the annual report community you serve. True or false?
Answer: Not true. In my November newsletter (No. 255) alone, first-person stories appear on Pgs. 1 and 6. Ours is nothing if not interactive—a collaborative effort with the men and women on corporate staffs who produce their companies' key corporate communiqué.

2. Your focus is on your exclusive survey. True or false? (And what's that survey all about?)
Answer: True—at least, Pg. 3 is devoted to my exclusive survey. Ever since the 1982 crop of annual reports worldwide, I've monitored annual report approaches, and content—to see, for instance, if honesty in the letter to shareholders remains consistently high. To see if the proliferation of white males on boards of directors as pictured—well, to discern if companies would "see the light" and come to realize women and/or minorities shouldn't be excluded.

3. One of your advocacies is encouraging that annual reports have the appearance, the lure, of a magazine. True or false?
Answer: That's indeed one of the elements monitored. And three times more today—39.1% vs. 12% a decade earlier—have followed our lead, taken our suggestion. Two in five isn't nirvana, but it's a start, at least.

4. You place great emphasis on annuals having a theme. True or false?
Answer: True. I'm convinced that use of a theme helps the producers stay on target during the six-month (average) process—keeps the approach from slipping off target, is another way of putting it. Themes appeared in 27% of 1987 books vs. 68.2% currently. That's progress. By coincidence, my Pg. 1 article deals with that very subject—determining the theme.

5. One of the things you insist on is "perceptible CEO involvement in the shareholder letter." True or false?
Answer: Of course. And we're making progress, if slowly: Among 2003 books, 93.4% of the letters convinced of CEO involvement. That's an improvement, if not huge, over 87% among 1989 reports.

6. So what you're saying is that elements you monitor, because of the attention you draw to them, have a way of improving, if slowly? True or false?
Answer: Not always. I've long advocated corporations include a grid in their reports, breaking down a company's operations and including names of at least three customers and three competitors. Among 1990 books, as my November newsletter reads, "13% were so credited." Sadly, that's off currently to 2.6%.

7. Are you ever wrong?
Answer: Well, there's an item in the November newsletter that speaks to that question. It involves the Sonoco annual report. I discovered, all these years later, that I had goofed in evaluating its 1998 annual report—six years earlier. I failed to give it any points in my Category 14, which deals with CEO articulation in the letter to shareholders. I've belatedly corrected the record, and have put in the mail its rightfully warranted certificate suitable for framing—for its 1998 book. (Independently, of course, its 2004 book achieved "world-class" status, scoring a qualifying 108 points.)

Return to November 2004 quiz page

Test your knowledge by taking previous monthly quizzes


	1.	You function pretty much as a one-man show, without regular contact with the annual report community you serve. True or false? *Answer:* Not true. In my November newsletter (No. 255) alone, first-person stories appear on Pgs. 1 and 6. Ours is nothing if not interactive—a collaborative effort with the men and women on corporate staffs who produce their companies' key corporate communiqué.

	2.	Your focus is on your exclusive survey. True or false? (And what's that survey all about?) *Answer:* True—at least, Pg. 3 is devoted to my exclusive survey. Ever since the 1982 crop of annual reports worldwide, I've monitored annual report approaches, and content—to see, for instance, if honesty in the letter to shareholders remains consistently high. To see if the proliferation of white males on boards of directors as pictured—well, to discern if companies would "see the light" and come to realize women and/or minorities shouldn't be excluded.

	3.	One of your advocacies is encouraging that annual reports have the appearance, the lure, of a magazine. True or false? *Answer:* That's indeed one of the elements monitored. And three times more today—39.1% vs. 12% a decade earlier—have followed our lead, taken our suggestion. Two in five isn't nirvana, but it's a start, at least.

	4.	You place great emphasis on annuals having a theme. True or false? *Answer:* True. I'm convinced that use of a theme helps the producers stay on target during the six-month (average) process—keeps the approach from slipping off target, is another way of putting it. Themes appeared in 27% of 1987 books vs. 68.2% currently. That's progress. By coincidence, my Pg. 1 article deals with that very subject—determining the theme.

	5.	One of the things you insist on is "perceptible CEO involvement in the shareholder letter." True or false? *Answer:* Of course. And we're making progress, if slowly: Among 2003 books, 93.4% of the letters convinced of CEO involvement. That's an improvement, if not huge, over 87% among 1989 reports.

	6.	So what you're saying is that elements you monitor, because of the attention you draw to them, have a way of improving, if slowly? True or false? *Answer:* Not always. I've long advocated corporations include a grid in their reports, breaking down a company's operations and including names of at least three customers and three competitors. Among 1990 books, as my November newsletter reads, "13% were so credited." Sadly, that's off currently to 2.6%.

	7.	Are you ever wrong? *Answer:* Well, there's an item in the November newsletter that speaks to that question. It involves the Sonoco annual report. I discovered, all these years later, that I had goofed in evaluating its 1998 annual report—six years earlier. I failed to give it any points in my Category 14, which deals with CEO articulation in the letter to shareholders. I've belatedly corrected the record, and have put in the mail its rightfully warranted certificate suitable for framing—for its 1998 book. (Independently, of course, its 2004 book achieved "world-class" status, scoring a qualifying 108 points.)