Let’s get started: producing your Annual Report in five steps

Let’s get started: producing your Annual Report in five steps

Julie Jensen

16 July 2024

Here at pepperit, we love producing annual reports, especially a not for profit annual report.

What better way to showcase your successes and achievements from the year? It’s a moment in time for your business or organisation; marking more than your financials, it celebrates the efforts of your team and the positive effects of your work.

The pepperit team has a collective mash-up of experience across industries, roles, and clients who we’ve had the pleasure of working in and with. This includes our fair share of ASX listed, private companies, not for profits and associations, So, with that in mind, here are our thoughts on how to produce an annual report smoothly and successfully.

Annual Report steps to success

1. Identify your audience

Your stakeholders in the production of an annual report are many: the executive team, board members, the finance department, your auditors, and members of your team. It’s a group effort, and it’s critical to have broad input into content. But who will actually be reading your report? Going beyond compliance, think about each section and not only who will be reading it, but how they will be using the information.

Consider the report as an opportunity to celebrate the year’s success, and proudly present your future plans. This makes your report the perfect document to share all year long with investors, donors, supporters and other complementary organisations.

2. Timing is everything

Take the time to draft a detailed timeline, working back from when the report needs to be live. Assign tasks and integrate your team’s feedback and input into the process. Allow some extra days for when decision makers may not available for sign off.

Working backwards, consider: Print/publish./distribution; final review and approval; draft review; provide final/audited financials; copy review and approval; draft copy; collate/supply brand assets, images and brand guide.

3. Collect all the necessary bits

One strategy is to start with the table of contents, and then move content around to fit the broad structure of the document. A message from your board and/or your executive. Some main highlights of the year. Your financials. An auditor’s note. You will include what is required but also the elements of your work that show achievements and generate enthusiasm for your mission going forward. The annual report will speak to current and future team members, a document that makes them feel pride and purpose.

For some, being asked to write even just 500 words can cause a fear worse than being asked to speak in public. Our suggestion, start with dot points of what was, and what’s planned for the future. Then, massage those dot points into a flowing narrative. If you’re still stuck, ask someone in your team to help convert those dot points, or engage a copy writer to assist.

4. Think about visuals

This is your opportunity to showcase your work from the past year in a visually compelling way. There are multiple ways to make numbers look more interesting, and imagery and graphics can make the content pop off the page/screen. Think about which elements of your content can be best communicated visually, and where you will need more copy.

While being loyal to your brand, decide on a theme, colour palette, graphic elements and page layouts in advance; your cover design will be crucial in sparking interest and setting the theme.

Remember, your report is an opportunity to speak with your current and future investors and supporters. In most of these cases, a picture speaks a thousand words! Get to work early to have your team and departments collect and collate images of the year that was – and the year that will be!

When it comes to images, friends don’t let friends use low resolution images. So always ask for the original high resolution version of any image. And when it comes to illustrations, logos etc. vector files are your best friend!

5. Let the people read it

Think about how people will read your report before you start designing. Is this a printed document or will it only be read online? Is it B2C and mostly going to be read on a phone or tablet? Or will a B2B audience be more likely to read it on a larger screen?

The design process is different in relation to spreads, images and copy, depending on how the audience will use the document. Will a clickable PDF work best? Or a more dynamic and interactive web style report?

There is no right answer, only what works best for your audience. Your designer can help with these decisions.

It’s been a pleasure working with the pepperit team. Their patience and professionalism led to the project’s success, and has been really appreciated by myself and our broader team.
Caiti H., Centacare Catholic Country SA

Your Annual Report design agency

Looking for someone to manage the end-to-end process of your annual report? Look no further than pepperit. Click through to read a little more on what we do and packages and prices for annual report design and production.

Contact us today to discuss your annual report.