Every listed company publishes an annual report, and most of them are enormous: two or three hundred pages of text, charts, tables and legal notes. Almost nobody reads them from start to finish. The good news is that you do not need to. With the right approach, you can learn most of what matters in about twenty minutes. Here is how.
Skip the first section
Annual reports usually open with glossy pages: photographs of happy customers, a letter from the chairman and a list of highlights chosen by the company. This section is written by the company about itself, and it is designed to make a good impression. Read the chief executive's letter quickly for the main themes, then move on.
The front of the report tells you what the company wants you to think. The back tells you what actually happened.
Marco Bellini
