“Living” Online Annual Reports (OARS) – What Happened Next?

“Living” Online Annual Reports (OARS) – What Happened Next?

We’ve been exploring the ‘living’ annual report format and are dying to create one. In our minds a living OAR captures a ‘snapshot in time’ of the official filing but is then updated over the next several quarters to provide current key financials and current links to related information and updates.

A living online annual report takes advantage of the fact that many investors use the annual report as one of the first steps in their due diligence as a way to get up to speed on what your company is about. With this in mind, why not address the visitor’s obvious next question: “What happened next?”

Providing information in this convenient location dovetails with our mission to create Investor Friendly materials. For us this means simply anticipating the next question and the next piece of related information that a potential investor might want. This may include providing other website materials: press releases, links to product announcements, mining site profiles or whatever else is on the site that expands knowledge about this important topic.

Of course with financial results, the main question is: “What are the latest results?”

While the Annual Report is intended to be a snapshot in time, for 12 months it becomes an important introductory piece on your company. This effect is emphasized in companies with sub-par IR areas. If your IR site is a lame filing cabinet, then consider this idea more strongly. While printed annuals do have a certain shelf life (probably a month or two before being tossed in the bin) their lack of up-to-date information is no sin. Online Annual Reports (OARs) on the other hand, are important resources until they are replaced with the new version. “While OARs function as guides to your company they can’t answer any current questions — even obvious ones. They can’t even direct you to information about “what happened next”. We don’t think this is acceptable given that they could”.

Consider that the printed AR only reaches current shareholders. So the online version’s main target is potential shareholders. With this in mind, and understanding that this is a key source of information in their due diligence, an IRO’s question should be: “how can I help this potential shareholder more quickly reach their comfort zone of knowledge so they can invest?” Well, think about making the site Investor Friendly. Think about anticipating what you’d look for next. It’s not “Rocket Surgery” as Ricky says on Trailer Park Boys.

We are not suggesting that every element be updated. Apply it to key financial tables, key program descriptions in progress, key deals playing out at time of writing, etc. To preserve the ‘snapshot in time’ version we suggest the additional information be accessible via an “Update” button, for visitors to trigger the effect. What will their reaction be? I expect things like: “That’s handy!”, “What a smart company!”, “This makes it easier!”,“These folks understand technology”;“Hey this sucks way less than that other company’s materials!”