What a successful annual report must look like
ANNUAL REPORTS The annual report is a mammoth task for many companies and is often seen as nothing more than an accumulation of figures. However, it serves much more as a means of informing stakeholders and as an instrument for representing the company. To this end, it must be written in a concise and appealing manner and be convincing through linguistic and visual arguments.
The Swatch Group Annual Report of 2012 was written in Swiss German and caused quite a stir.For many companies, the annual report is the most important publication of the year. The owner of the PR Agency WickPR AG, Christian Wick, underlines its importance: "The annual report is still an excellent instrument for cultivating the image of a company or institution vis-à-vis its stakeholders and the media."Creativity in demandAccording to Christian Wick, if you are creative, you can turn a rather dry subject matter into a surprising and lasting message house. This was achieved, for example, by the Swatch Group, which published its last annual report in Swiss German and thus achieved a great deal of media attention. In terms of content, a good annual report is characterized by being concise. "The reader must be able to get an overview of the most important statements and figures in as short a time as possible," recommends Axel Rienitz, Head of Corporate Communication at HUBER+SUHNER.Typography and design: emotionalization tools"In terms of content, clear facts should be combined with emotions to make reading enjoyable for every viewer," says Beatrice Tschanz, owner of the Agency Feelgood Media GmbHAnd Axel Rienitz explains that bare financial results can be better expressed and emotionalized using short stories. HUBER+SUHNER uses this method to give their readers a realistic picture of their company.The first impression countsEspecially with an annual report, the typography and visual design must not be neglected, because here, too, the first impression counts.Beatrice Tschanz gives tips on how to arouse the viewer's interest: "A clear design of the annual report offers the viewer the opportunity to obtain detailed information about the company and its products." In addition, it is essential to pay attention to the corporate design, the appearance of the company, when designing the layout.Content and language: instruments of persuasionFrom our perspective, the linguistic design of an annual report is the most important aspect. In recent years, the need for professionally edited and translated annual reports has increased continuously. Many entrepreneurs have recognized that the annual report is a good instrument for convincing investors, partners and potential new customers.In addition to the content, the linguistic component is also an essential argument for convincing stakeholders. It is important that - apart from the appealing style and the grammatical-orthographical correctness - the tonality is right and fits the company.The linguistic and customary finesses must be taken into account, because for the company and its stakeholders they make the small but decisive difference.Consistent terminology importantA prerequisite for an annual report to be used to enhance a company's image is consistent terminology, which is an essential part of corporate language. In recent years, several technical innovations have been created in the field of language services and integrated into work processes that ensure this consistency.The language service provider TRANSLATION-PROBST AG for example, has invested a lot of time and money in technologies that support corporate language. For example, SDL Trados and MultiTerm are used to build and manage translation memories and terminology databases, facilitating the translation process and ensuring text consistency.Short and simple annual reportTRANSLATION-PROBST AG has been translating the HUBER+SUHNER annual report for several years. Commenting on the result, Axel Rienitz says: "Nowadays, it has become very difficult to be heard in the market of opinions. We are under no illusion that as a medium-sized company we can compete with the heavyweights in Switzerland. Our annual report is primarily aimed at our shareholders and the financial analysts who have been following us for years. It is characterized by being short and simple. That suits an industrial company best, which knows how to convince above all through the quality of its customer solutions."
