"Hogwash," says the annual report guru of the new transparency efforts — November 2004
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The print annual report appears to have legs, after all. — October 2004
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An annual report fails the smell test. — August 2004
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Venality among corporations? — July 2004
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Sid looks back on nearly 21 years; 250 issues — June 2004
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One can't help but be impressed by the pictorially and graphically exceptional USAA annual. — May 2004
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What's an annual REALLY tell us about a company? — March 2004
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What Sid Cato's Newsletter on Annual Reports isn't. — February 2004
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Where are they now? — January 2004
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A kinder, gentler Sid. — December 2003
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It's enough to make a guy swear off annual reports. — November 2003
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Sid parses the year's 10 best reports; are they truly exceptional? — October 2003
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BorgWarner's product magnificent? — September 2003
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End of an era? — August 2003
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"Some expected miracles." — July 2003
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"The battle intensifies." — June 2003
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"Hogwash," says the annual report guru of the new transparency efforts — May 2003
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A pioneering effort by one company in the area of corporate governance — April 2003
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"Corporate governance"? Surely you jest — March 2003
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It may play in Peoria, but... — February 2003
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"It wasn’t a very good year, 2002" — January 2003
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Sid looks back on "an incredibly difficult year past" — December 2002
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Sid talks about the international annual report; the world keeps getting smaller — November 2002
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Sid writes of what he views as some engrossing trends—involving people in the annual report field. — October 2002
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Sid writes of what he sees as our hugely negative times — September 2002
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Surely, Sid finds most CEOs sufficiently forthright — August 2002
Not. Read Article >>
Defining what an annual report is — July 2002
Maybe that's the problem...the SEC and the rest of us aren't on the same page. Read Article >>
The good and the god-awful — June 2002
Many referenced 9/11 in their reports. Some, like Sherwin-Williams, handled it well. Others didn't. Read Article >>
None did a better job concerning 9/11 — May 2002
Many corporations—far more than I'd have guessed—acknowledged in their 2001 annual reports the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the resultant horror not only to the United States, but affecting countries around the world. One that impressed me most was by a New Jersey-based water company. Fittingly, "American" is its first name. Read Article >>
Andersen & Waste Management—a match made in Heaven — April 2002
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced it has brought suit against Arthur Andersen, the beleaguered accounting/consulting company, for colluding with the former Waste Management to overstate its profits. This garbage hauler (then based in a suburb of Chicago) is an outfit whose annual 17 years ago, for 1984, I named to my list of world's worst—this, in Chief Executive magazine.
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Is the 2001 crop of reports shaping up as worst ever? — March 2002
Impartially, Sid takes each annual report received and logs it in to his computerized data base—to see which of his three dozen copyrighted criteria it contains, what's missing. Sad, sad prediction: The year's Cato Positive Index will vie (with the 1994 crop of reports, whose CPI% was an unbelievably insignificant 0.9%) as worst ever. After six consecutive years of improvement.
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Current accounting contretemps — February 2002
It's all over the news: auditors who do double-duty as consultants to the very companies whose books they're auditing. Conflicts of interest? You said it!
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What's friendship got to do with it? — January 2002
Folks who don't know logically (some would say) believe Sid plays favorites with his annual report choices. But is that the case? What's the real skinny?
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You CAN go home again, two guys insist — December 2001
The old saw is that one can't go home again—meaning, most agree, that the past is past, that one can't return to familiar things, trod on previously walked paths. Well, two journalists are trying to prove that theory wrong.
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Thoughts at random in these turbulent times — November 2001
Another term for "Enduring Freedom," our government's all-encompassing slogan
for the fight to remain free of terror, might well be: "Sept. 11, 2001: The day the
Earth stood still. Perhaps forever."
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Playing hooky on a sunny Sunday afternoon — October 2001
War and threats of additional violence can't be ignored; in fact, it's unwise from an
emotional/health standpoint to attempt to downplay such tragedies as we've faced
in the past three weeks. Take it from a guy who knows.
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A rewarding (if thankless) task — September 2001
Monitoring the world's annuals is a lonely job.
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The AR Guru’s Do’s, Don’t’s — August 2001
Some of Sid’s pet peeves; sure you want to know them?
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Portrait of a Champ — July 2001
What's it take to achieve "world-class" status, scoring at least 100 of a
potential 135 points against Sid Cato's copyrighted criteria on what makes
a good annual report? In short, what the winners (20 to date among 2000
annuals) have in common.
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What's with the "cat hairs gone astray," already? — June 2001
What first appeared to be hairs left by a pet turned out to be swipes—sometimes partial, sometimes the entire compass-drawn circle—by so-called "creative types." What do you suppose possesses graphic designers to go that route in corporations' annual reports to shareholders? Moreover, don't clients recognize bad design when they see it? As witness a Georgia-based biotech startup, whose report contains the greatest number of compass-drawn circles in history. The whole mess gives new meaning to "gag me to the max."
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Do you see reports from other than the United States? — May 2001
That was the question a young man posed the other evening. Do I? Well, yes, you might say—from Bahrain, Israel, Sweden, Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic, Poland, to name a few. Not to ignore the United Kingdom, of course, Canada or Mexico. Are they any good? And what about the chap who introduced me to the non-United States report?
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Speaking of superb letters — April 2001
You can put in a thimble—by comparison to IBM's Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., that is—the skill as wordsmiths of Jack and Warren. Don't get me wrong: Welch and Buffett, legends in their own time, are exceptional, justifiably hailed as seers of the century. It's just that Gerstner, based on a careful reading of his 2000 letter, is extraordinary; none finer.
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So little time... — March 2001
Since time immemorial, it seems, reporters and others have pondered: Just how much time does the average stockholder spend in reading an annual report to shareholders? Some say that can't be quantified; others, that studies clearly indicate how many minutes on average are invested. Also: Won't Disney's Michael Eisner ever get control of his ego run rampant?
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Are 2000 reports shaping up as the worst ever? — February 2001
Sid feels his February newsletter is one of the most negative (read: least positive) in his years (210 issues) at this stand. Is the new crop of reports the poorest ever? Or is it simply that companies on a fiscal year basis are rank amateurs where producing a revelatory report is concerned? Or, perhaps, is it simply a case of author burnout? Read Article >>
What our 15th annual Producer Poll shows — January 2001
Opinions/theories abound concerning the key corporate communique'. But what are the facts regarding the annual report to shareholders of companies
worldwide? Check 'em out. Read Article >>
What's wrong with the country, if not the world, these days? — December 2000
Blame it on the Election, never-ending. Massive pre-Thanksgiving snowstorms, Buffalo's biggest. Or is it that the nation as a whole is off-kilter, for whatever reason? You decide. Read Article >>
Worst annuals: No longer
the oil companies, ad agencies — November 2000
Which industry has the worst track record as far as producing annual reports to shareholders is concerned? I used to think it was oil companies, but they proved me wrong. Advertising agencies are in a special category: They're hopeless (speaking, again, of their annual reports to shareholders, of course), have no more business producing
annuals than I do in thinking I can turn out winning advertisements. Each is a job for specialists. But one industry clearly stands out—negatively, that is. Read Article >>
