 |  Periodic editorials concerning everything from the very worst industry—from an annual report standpoint, that is—to what's wrong with the Fourth Estate. Reporters who can't hit an accuracy with a cannon. |
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| Periodic editorials concerning everything from the very worst industry—from an annual report standpoint, that is—to what's wrong with the Fourth Estate. Reporters who can't hit an accuracy with a cannon. |
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Sid looks back on nearly 21 years; 250 issues My monthly Newsletter on Annual Reports, begun in September 1983, grew out of a June 1 lunch at a Japanese restaurant on Chicago's Near North Side. The lunch was attended by an actor friend, as well as by my eldest child, Matt, in town to celebrate his Father's birthday the preceding evening. Without forethought, I swear, I announced two things: 1. That I was going to write a book on coping with grief; hard copies of "Healing Life's Great Hurts" were available the first working day of 1984. 2. That I was going to introduce an annual report newsletter. First issues were out in September and October 1983—a four-pager and a six-pager, respectively. So my June 2004 issue is No. 250, going to subscribers (and news media) worldwide...men and women in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Canada and Italy. The September 1983 product, which I labeled "PILOT ISSUE," wasted no time criticizing, as a Pg. 1 barker heralded, "Ploy to inflate pretax profits squelched." Half a page devoted to a Forbes expose of Exxon's "shuffling (of) pieces of paper in a kind of arbitrage between current high interest rates and older, lower rates." Forbes said that, via manipulation, "Exxon brought $130 million to the bottom line—enough to soften a reported drop in earnings." The magazine said the Financial Accounting Standards Board "moved quickly to nip this trend in the bud," which I confess all these years later I continue to find surprising—the "quickly" part. In my second issue—Vol. 1, No. 2, for October 1983—I headlined that "Frankness is No. 1 in annual reports," an advocacy shared by stockholders—that "not brevity or a company's profit picture" but honesty is "the key element in an annual report." Quoted was a "survey of a company's stockholders and the financial community" that revealed "A whopping 93.1% of stockholders and 83.4% of analysts and brokers" ranked frankness as most important. In my October 1983 issue, I devoted a page to "Humor in annual reports." Not so funny I found one Harry E. Figgie, Jr., who claimed he "reluctantly agreed to have his conglomerate, A-T-O, Inc., named after himself." Mr. Figgie said he found this to be "an invasion of privacy" and "a very painful experience for me." But, "Mr. Figgie isn't quite so bashful about voicing his opinions," I observed. "His latest annual report contains 14 pages of his views on economic problems." Also, I quoted (in that issue) a Wall Street Journal headline that, all these years later, remains a favorite: "Excuses, Excuses." Welcome to the crowd. |
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