SEPTEMBER 2023
– Saul Bass, American Graphic Designer and Filmmaker
DEAR READER
Lines, texture, shape, imagery, colour and typography are the fundamentals of any design concept. How these fundamentals are integrated and strategically applied will ultimately determine how captivating your report can be.
Compiling a report goes beyond placing words on a page – the report must be compelling. Keeping an audience engaged in the digital age, in which humans consume large amounts of information daily, requires creative thinking. Netflix says if viewers do not find something to watch in the first 60-90 seconds, they typically lose interest and leave the platform.
Design enables us to think about how we can deliver quality content that will instantly captivate the reader, inspire them, make them want to read the copy and then, make it easy to understand.
DESIGN BASICS
Understand your client, understand their corporate personality, understand their appetite for change, understand how they see themselves; and then
believe in the same things that they do.
Understand your client.”
UNDERSTANDING THE CONTENT
Content and design must speak to each other. Therefore, the designer must understand the report’s contents before conceptualising how this will be presented. The designer needs to think logically and creatively about how text-heavy content can be displayed impactfully, or how design can make complicated information easier to understand.Understanding the content will guide the designer in selecting the most suitable layout, graphics and imagery.
CONSIDERING COMPOSITION AND LAYOUT
The composition and layout of a report can easily captivate or distract the reader. Layout must be seamless, it must flow, it must make sense and sometimes less is more – over-designing a page can detract from your message. Consider a simple yet effective design concept. Embrace the white spaces, as this gives the reader’s eyes a break and keeps them engaged.
For example, infographics are practical for displaying information. They are visually appealing and easily grab the reader, enabling them to digest information at a glance. Infographics can be used to display processes such as business models (organograms, timelines, and distribution footprint). It can also be used to create interest around statistics and performance measurements.
USING IMAGERY TO TELL YOUR STORY
Selecting the right imagery for a report helps the reader relate to the message and can create a visual relationship with them. One high-quality image can be more impactful than a collage of images that do not correlate or tell a story. The key to finding the best images for a report is to select images that align with the content and the company’s brand.
WHAT’S TRENDING?
“Less is more” applies to design concepts.
The minimal design is characterised by a clean layout, simple design, visual hierarchy, and a limited colour palette. The minimalist design aims to be impactful using fewer elements.
Minimal design does not mean cheap design. Minimalist can still equate to elegance.
In recent years, neutral and muted palettes were used in many design concepts in reporting, advertising and digital content marketing.
Design concepts are gradually moving away from muted or natural tones, and companies are more open to using simple and bold colours with a minimal design layout.
Data visualisation has transformed the way companies compile their reports.
Visualising key information allows the report to tell a story, helping the reader to connect the dots. This can vary from basic pie charts, infographics and graphs to heat maps, tree maps, area charts, dot distribution maps and wedge stack graphs.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is taking every industry by storm, and the design world is no different.
Designers can access AI platforms that allow them to customise logos, generate AI imagery or manipulate existing imagery to meet their design needs by simply inserting descriptive prompts. The rise of such platforms has enabled designers to unlock creativity and improve efficiency.
THE RIGHT PARTNER FOR
YOUR REPORTING
NEEDS
WHY YOU SHOULD REPORT
Reporting on company performance is important for mitigating reputational risk and being a responsible corporate citizen. It is also a regulatory requirement for many companies. However, reporting on performance is not just about ticking off the right boxes. Every company, listed or unlisted, has a broad impact on society beyond its investors. Authentic reporting allows companies to build a culture of transparency and accountability for internal and external stakeholders.
Once you have identified your reporting needs, it is time to find a partner that will help you meet those needs.
A GOOD MATCH
When looking for the right partner to execute your reporting needs, you want a partnership that equates to 1+1=7, i.e., brings synergy. You need a company that will be more than just a supplier. You want to collaborate with a company that understands your goals and is committed to helping you achieve them.
This is a partner that values excellence and respect, no matter the size of the project or the client. A collaborator that treasures building long-lasting relationships with all its clients. You need a partner with extensive experience in local and international stakeholder communication and a reputable clientele.
You want to partner with a company that embraces creativity and innovation. A partner that dares to take on the challenge of creating a reporting experience that exceeds expectations. A partner that can help you realise anything that you can imagine. A partner like GreymatterFinch.
THE ONE-STOP SHOP
At GreymatterFinch, we want your reporting journey to be seamless. This includes catering for all aspects of end-to-end reporting. We will work with you from planning the project right through to the completion of your report. GreymatterFinch is by your side, from determining what and how to report to ensuring that the report, in its printed and digital forms, reaches stakeholders.
GreymatterFinch will help your company build a solid reporting suite, including financial, integrated and sustainability reporting, and supplementary products and services that maximise your investment in interim and annual reporting.
NEWS
IN FOCUS
How companies will have to report on ESG globally explained –
Bloomberg
Countries and regions are creating their own reporting rules on environmental,
social
and corporate governance reporting. The European Union recently announced its new reporting standards
that
companies will adhere to from 2024. This article provides insight into the different regulatory paths
that
are emerging.
Corporate social responsibility is more than just charity – here’s
why
it’s good for business – Entrepreneur
Executives who do not consider integrating CSR into
their
decision-making fabric risk alienating stakeholders, damaging their brands, and eroding their
competitive
positions. This article explores the CSR elements that executives need to factor in.
OUR MOST READ ARTICLES
ON
LINKEDIN
The future of board governance
The evolving role of the company secretary
DEAR READER
I am pleased to share our latest newsletter with insights from the world of corporate reporting. In this letter, we share the four characteristics of an impactful and award-winning report.
- A fit-for-purpose reporting suite aligned to global frameworks and standards
The top reporters take time to define their reporting strategy, including their selection of globally recognised frameworks and standards, with extensive input from management and the board. They execute against a formalised reporting strategy that maps out each report’s objective, target audience and content improvement roadmap. This ensures that there is interconnectivity, alignment and consistency between each reporting element. The top reporters also adopt reporting frameworks and standards and follow them in full, without cherry-picking. Importantly, defining a reporting strategy is not done in isolation and involves consulting stakeholders to better understand their information needs. - The right level of information is included
To be impactful, reports should be concise with the right level of information. A materiality filter is applied to all content to avoid unnecessary detail. Top reporters take materiality seriously, with a robust materiality process undertaken for each report every one to three years. This process may consider impact materiality or financial materiality, or follow a double materiality approach. - Consistent, transparent and balanced reporting
The best reporters understand that annual reports are essential to keeping stakeholders informed of the organisation’s prospects. They are so much more than glossy marketing documents. This means that disclosures should be transparent and give equal prominence to positive and negative developments. Information is consistent across the suite and within each report, and year-on-year, with exceptions and changes to disclosures explained. - Strong and interconnected strategy disclosure
Award-winning organisations provide extensive strategy disclosure, without giving away the secret sauce. They share their strategic goals and priorities and how they plan to achieve them. They avoid generic statements and include clear KPIs for each strategic goal, with progress shared each year. If the operating context or strategy changes, they explain these changes and how they are responding to them. There are clear links between the strategy section and other parts of the report including the operating context, remuneration and risk management.
A new report from several accounting bodies reveals that global momentum is building for corporate reporting and assurance involving environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. However, the inconsistencies in disclosure remain a significant challenge. In 2021, 95% of large companies reported on ESG matters, up from 91% in 2019. The study underscores the need for globally consistent, high-quality sustainability assurance and the role of professional accountants in providing that assurance.
World Economic Forum: How to make non-financial reporting your company’s north star
In an increasingly fragmented and volatile world, it is important for companies to have a clear compass. Having a “true north” is a prerequisite for sustainable management and creating value for all stakeholders. Here, having clearly communicated ESG goals can be this north star..
Five steps to strong sustainability reporting for the biggest business impact
While sustainability reporting is likely to become a regulatory requirement in many countries, it has also grown in popularity. In 2011, only 20% of S&P 500 companies published sustainability reports compared to 90% in 2019. When done well, sustainability reporting drives two compelling outcomes for companies: informed decision-making by stakeholders and improved sustainability performance by companies.
WARREN BUFFET ON READING ANNUAL REPORTS
Warren Buffet is considered by some to be the world’s most successful investor. He is also an advocate for reading annual reports. Here are his most famous quotes about annual reports. It’s hard to overstate the emphasis Buffet places on honest, transparent and shareholder-focused reporting.
“I’d like to have a report that describes what had happened if I owned a company but went away for a year. When I came back, my business partner would tell me what had taken place during the past year and what he foresaw coming up. If we read a bunch of public relations gobbledlygook, and we see lots of pictures and no facts, it has some effect on our attitude toward the business. We want to understand the business better when we get through the annual report than when we picked it up.”
“Almost every business has problems… A lot of companies, for example, have investor relations people, and they’re dying to pump out what they think is good news all the time… we try to stay away from businesses like that.”
“If we owned stock in a company, in an industry, and there are eight other companies in the same industry… I want to be on the mailing list for the reports of the other eight because I can’t understand how my company is doing unless I understand what the other eight are doing.”
Consultation to enhance the international applicability of the SASB standards now open
The state of play in sustainability assurance
Less than 1% of companies have presented credible climate transition plans: CDP
As the year winds down and summer holidays beckon, we would all do well to heed this warning contained in an obscure spoken-word song that was a hit in 1997: “Trust me on the sunscreen”.
Back then, “global warming” was a little-known concept. A quarter century later, climate action failure has been ranked the number one long-term threat to the world by respondents in the 2021–2022 Global Risks Perception Survey.
But amid the many dark clouds, a few silver linings have also been appearing lately – with increasing convergence in the world of reporting being one of the brightest.
From the first King Report on corporate governance in 1994 and the Integrated Reporting Framework in 2013, reporting has been a river sensing the sea. And now all the various actors – standard setters, regulators, governments, companies and investors – are coming together to start a new act.
Celebrating that momentum is the theme of this newsletter, our final one for the year. Because good reporting is not only good for business, it’s good for all of humanity.
Now, it’s true that corporate reports don’t make bestseller lists, but they do matter.
“Get the reporting right and sustainability will follow,” the World Economic Forum said earlier this year.
The challenge is that companies have been able to pick and choose from several disclosure standards and they have been able to interpret them in a variety of ways.
According to the International Trade Centre, more than 2 500 standards and related initiatives in corporate sustainability and responsible business conduct are in use globally. Thankfully, though, convergence is now happening fast.
In 2020, two statements of intent to develop unified sustainability standards stood out – one by the European Union (EU) and one by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation.
Last year and throughout 2022, the two groupings forged ahead with developing their own sets of standards, which are now nearing completion.
In November, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) reached an agreement on the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which the European Commission aims to adopt by June 2023.
And the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Board (ISSB) said it was making good progress towards a global baseline of sustainability-related financial disclosures, and would be supporting preparers, investors and other capital market stakeholders as they get ready to use the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, also due to kick in next year.
Fortunately, they are talking to each other.
At COP27 in Egypt last month, it was announced that EFRAG and the ISSB are “working together towards a shared objective to agree as soon as practicable on a framework for maximising interoperability of their standards and aligning on key climate disclosures.”
Importantly, both initiatives feature alignment with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which reflects universal agreement on the threat posed by global warming.
For us in South Africa, there is a third initiative to take note of, and that is the pair of disclosure guidance documents issued by the JSE in June – one on sustainability, the other on climate change. These are not intended to replace global initiatives but are aligned with the most influential ones, including the TCFD recommendations.
At last, the big players seem to be seizing what has been called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to consolidate reporting standards.
And the momentum is being provided by the urgent need to address the climate emergency. So, Baz Luhrmann was right after all when he said, “Trust me on the sunscreen.”
The same song also contained the warning, “Be careful whose advice you buy.” At GreymatterFinch we fiercely guard our reputation as trusted experts in the services that we provide to our clients.
We invest time to build robust knowledge of the latest requirements and our clients’ industries. Clients leverage this expertise to ensure they meet their stakeholders’ information needs – whether with integrated, sustainability, social value or any other kind of report or communication.
We believe each company has a unique story to be told in a way that stakeholders can understand, using a medium that is accessible. We use our in-house skills, such as research insights, content crafting, creative design, accurate typesetting and coding, and meticulous project management to deliver impactful communication in an effective manner.
A big thank you to all our clients for your ongoing support over the past year. We believe that stakeholder trust is earned through consistent, quality service and good communication. Thanks for trusting us to tell your story.
Enjoy the holidays, be safe and may you return full of energy for the challenges and opportunities that no doubt lie in store for all of us next year.
Three ways business can take action in the fight against climate change – WEF
The climate crisis requires urgent global action on mitigation and adaptation. A shared agenda to rally action on 30 adaptation goals was launched at COP27. Here are three key actions business can take to help tackle climate change.
Corporate climate pledges rife with greenwashing, says UN – Reuters
Promises by companies, banks and cities to achieve net-zero emissions often amount to little more than greenwashing, experts said in a report released at COP27 in Egypt as they set out proposed new standards to harden net-zero claims.
Companies on the emissions radar – Reuters
Corporations are coming under the glare of climate activists and policymakers after speeches at the COP27 climate summit called on companies to pay a global carbon tax.
‘Fossil fuels are a dead end’, says climate adviser – UN News Service
To prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis, the world must abandon fossil fuels as quickly as possible, says Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Climate Action.
TNFD launches latest framework for nature-related financial disclosure – edie
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has issued the latest amendments to its beta framework to enhance corporate approaches to disclosing nature-related data for investors, ahead of an official launch next year. The TNFD complements the TCFD, which is gaining popularity amongst corporates and financial markets in outlining the economic risks associated with the climate crisis.
Global Compact Network calls on private sector to join new Business & Human Rights Accelerator
South African financial sector faces litigation risks if ESG matters are ignored
Steps companies can take to optimise their ESG reporting
2022 TCFD status report finds a steady increase in climate-related financial disclosures
Dear reader
Do you always trust what you read? We don’t…
Welcome to the Spring edition of GreymatterFinch’s newsletter, sharing our perspectives from the world of reporting. Building on our previous newsletter’s theme of ‘change’, this edition focuses on ‘trust’.
In a world of change, people desire certainty and trust
We live in a world with increasing lines of defence (it started with three, then five and now moving beyond seven it seems) aimed at checking, rechecking and assuring against error and misstatement.
How does a stakeholder know that a company is spending money wisely? That they are making sound investments and share their values? Unfortunately, trust is not always the first word people think of when it comes to corporate reporting. Stakeholders are wary of empty commitments and obligatory, compliance-driven disclosures.
Greenwashing is defined as unsubstantiated or misleading claims about an entity’s environmental performance or selective disclosure or non-disclosure about the environmental or social impacts of a company’s business practices.
dailyinvestor.com‘Whoever is careless with the truth in
small matters cannot be trusted
with important matters’
The consequences of untrustworthy reporting can be dire. When a business publishes a report to influence the decision-making of stakeholders – be it an integrated annual report, a sustainability report or a governance report – and does so not providing evidence, but made-up or exaggerated claims, it is misleading its audience. And when this happens in corporate reports, it can be considered fraud.
Investors have been questioning the trust they can place in companies’ reporting when it comes to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Greenwashing is being called out, and whistleblowing is becoming more prevalent.
Effective communication is the art of securing trust at scale
- Earlier this year, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the formation of a Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force to proactively identify ESG-related misconduct. One of its objectives is to identify any material gaps or misstatements in issuers’ disclosure of climate risks under existing rules.
- In May, the SEC charged BNY Mellon, an investment adviser, for making misleading statements about the ESG investment considerations of its managed mutual funds. This resulted in the SEC issuing a cease-and-desist order and a penalty of $1.5 million (R25.9 million) against BNY Mellon.
- Also at the end of May, prosecutors in Frankfurt raided the offices of both Deutsche Bank and its asset management subsidiary DWS as part of an investigation into the greenwashing of investment products.
- In 2019, a derivative suit was filed in the United States by ExxonMobil’s shareholders against its directors for a breach of fiduciary duty and failure to disclose the impacts of climate change on the company’s business reserves and assets.
We are likely to see more greenwashing claims as public attention on climate change continues to grow and sustainability becomes increasingly important in consumer and investor decision-making.
Against this backdrop, the corporate world will need to ensure that ESG-related claims are unambiguous, accurate and supported by objective evidence, and that public statements on decarbonisation commitments are backed up by action.Radical transparency in the challenges and opportunities related to ESG commitments is key to build trust, forge fruitful stakeholder connections and develop business models that work. Clear, transparent communication can help create certainty and trust for investors, employees, customers, and local communities.
GreymatterFinch’s advisory team works with clients to develop content for their reports.
We invest time to build robust local and international research, knowledge and expertise in the latest corporate reporting requirements. Clients leverage this experience to ensure their reports transparently meet stakeholders’ information needs.
We are objective and independent. By anticipating the tough questions, we draw out material information.
Our multi-disciplinary teams – from project management to design and digital – then work with the advisory team to package information in ways that external stakeholders can easily understand.
In June, after a period of public comment, the JSE released its final Sustainability Disclosure Guidance and Climate Change Disclosure Guidance, which aligns to global best practice while acknowledging the importance of our South African context.
At the International Cooperation Forum and Meeting of African Ministers of Finance Economy and the Environment in Egypt in September, African Ministers and other representatives of international bodies expressed support for the work of the IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).
News in focus
Daily Investor: South African financial sector faces litigation risks if ESG matters are ignored
Role players are proactively engaging with institutional investors and asset managers on integrating ESG factors into their decision-making and are facing increasing scrutiny of their investment activities. Webber Wentzel warned participants in the South African financial sector to ensure that disclosures on ESG matters are accurate, well-founded and backed up with data to avoid greenwashing litigation.
EY and Oxford Analytica: The emerging sustainability information ecosystem
A recent report from EY and Oxford Analytica outlines steps companies can take to optimise their ESG reporting. The report highlights five areas of improvement to bring ESG reporting up to speed with financial reporting, as they warn that growing allegations of greenwashing risk eroding credibility.
BCG.com: From compliance to courage in ESG
Companies that use ESG initiatives as an exercise in compliance, rather than a source of competitive advantage, are leaving substantial value on the table. To truly unlock the competitive advantage that comes from being a leader on ESG topics, it’s not enough to track KPIs and publish reports. It’s about creating congruence between the commitments that the company is making to the world and the decisions being made inside its walls.
EY.com: 7 ways CFOs can drive the sustainability agenda
Increasingly, CFOs find themselves at the centre of the sustainability agenda. CFOs have always been responsible for managing financial value and reporting to key stakeholders. But today, those key stakeholders are demanding more than short-term profitability from organisations. They’re questioning how much of a company’s value is reflected in its financial reports alone, and are looking at the triple bottom line, which recognises value generation in terms of people, planet and profit.
Our most read articles on LinkedIn
