Researching a corporate report

An effective research report uses a combination of existing sources and new content. It must be evidence-based, and use only reputable primary sources, such as national and international reports, industry reports or academic papers.

In addition, it is great to have surveys and interviews to provide insights and colour to the data. These can also be the basis of subsequent media releases and news coverage.

For example, a report about opportunities in Brisbane ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games benefits from insights from local leaders. For this report for RSM Australia, we interviewed internal subject matter experts and city champions including “Mao’s Last Dancer” Li Cunxin, businesswoman Lady Jane Edwards, The University of Queensland’s Andrew Flannery, Flight Centre Chair Gary Smith, and Springfield Land Corporation’s Narendran Sinnathamby. These interviews gave us new ideas as well as interesting anecdotes and real-life experiences to pepper throughout the report.

Clear writing and language for reports

Maintain a clear, concise, and professional writing style. Avoid jargon or technical language unless the report’s audience is familiar with it, and it is the only way to explain the topic.

Use proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure for clarity.

Visual aids such as charts, tables, quotes, graphs and breakouts can also make it easier on the reader.

Reporting for purpose

Effective report writing can help to position an organisation as a leader in its field, offering insights, information and credibility in the market.

Producing high-quality, relevant thought leadership content will increase a company’s visibility, especially when it is promoted through media and other external channels. This can lead to increased brand recognition, making the company top-of-mind for clients or government.

Thought leaders often have the opportunity to shape industry standards and policies through their advocacy. By being at the forefront of discussions and debates, a company can play a crucial role in shaping the direction of its industry.

Types of corporate research reports

Thought leadership

A thought leadership report or a white paper is a comprehensive document that provides in-depth insights, analysis, and expert perspectives on a specific topic or industry. It is typically authored or ghost-written by a subject matter expert, or a company with extensive knowledge and experience in the field. 

These types of documents can demonstrate expertise, establish credibility, and provide valuable information to a target audience. They can also be a useful tool as the basis for a news story in public relations.

Industry  reports

Industry reports are used by businesses to explain their industry or sector, and highlight areas of need or interest. These reports delve into subjects such as trends and changes over time, consumer preferences and the future outlook. These are also important to be seen as a leader in the field and for future news stories.

Queensland already leads in sports technology, biotech, and mining tech. Notable companies include Go1 for education and training, SafetyCulture for occupational safety, and Gilmour Space for commercial rocket launches. Brisbane is recognised as an emerging tech hub, and efforts are being made to position it as Australia’s innovation capital.

ASX100 company TechnologyOne started in Brisbane and remains committed to the city. The CEO, Ed Chung, acknowledges that while Silicon Valley might be the conventional choice for starting a software company, Brisbane offers unique advantages.

“It’s a place where tech companies like us can go from car parks to ASX100 companies in a generation, where kids can know that they don’t have to move to Silicon Valley to land their dream job, but instead, they can do it right here in Fortitude Valley. ”

Ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, there is increased attention on Brisbane’s potential for innovation and investment. The city’s lifestyle, strong economy, and growing population make it an ideal destination for work, living, and investment. The Games are seen as an opportunity to propel Brisbane and Queensland onto the global stage as an innovation hub.

The goal of the Australian Government and Tech Council to have 1.2 million tech workers by 2030 requires annual increases of 8 per cent across the sector. This growth will come from various sources, including training pathways, retraining, and skilled migration. Tech companies are encouraged to embrace diversity of skills beyond coding, valuing creative thinking and problem-solving. Companies like TechnologyOne invest heavily in research and development to foster innovation, as well as employee well-being and community engagement. 

The brief:

The Brisbane office of the global professional services firm RSM wanted to highlight the growth trajectory of their home city. The opportunities emerging from developments and initiatives ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games are merging with population growth to create strong opportunities across a range of sectors. The goal was to develop a research report to showcase these opportunities, and connect with the Brisbane business community.

 

The project:

We developed a broad outline to cover the main aspects of Brisbane’s growth story across industries. Together with local subject matter experts and business leaders, we developed a narrative about Brisbane’s key strengths, but also the challenges the city’s leaders must overcome to achieve them. We were able to secure Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner to write the foreword, and local high-profile Brisbane residents Li Cunxin, Lady Jane Edwards, Andrew Flannery, Gary Smith and Narendran Sinnathamby to comment for the report.

The outcome:

The thought leadership report provided a well-researched analysis of Brisbane’s growth opportunities. It was released to coincide with RSM Brisbane’s tenth anniversary of operations in Brisbane, and was well-received by industry. The report also garnered local, national and international media coverage.

Key elements of a sustainability report

Sustainability reports often use a consistent format.

It starts with an introduction with background details about a company or organisation and its approach to sustainability. The mission, purpose and values are explained and linked to the focus areas for sustainability.

The introduction will likely include a foreword from the chair, the chief executive officer or the chief sustainability officer, offering insights from the year and setting the overall context and direction for sustainability in the company.

Many organisations choose to include a graphic with their highlights. This provides easy-to-read snapshots. The table below from the 2021 Mirvac sustainability report gives an example of such a table, in this case, setting out the stakeholder value creation.

Many organisations choose to include a graphic with their highlights. This provides read-to-read snapshots. The table below from the 2021 Mirvac sustainability report gives an example of such a table, in this case, setting out the stakeholder value creation.

Setting the sustainability approach

The content of a sustainability report is set by the relative importance of different issues to an organisation.

For some companies, there is a greater emphasis on the local environment over climate initiatives, for example, while others might focus on community impacts and benefits.

This focus is often determined by a materiality assessment. This sets out the issues that are most important to stakeholders and the company’s business operations.

Once these issues are identified, then the key impacts are aligned with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Australian company Coles Group has merged these two into a single infographic that sets out the parameters of their sustainability report.

Environmental reporting in a sustainability report

A significant portion of the sustainability report will be dedicated to outlining environmental performance.

This will often report on the company’s energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use, waste generation and management, and other environmental impacts. Nature-based conservation and local environmental efforts are listed in this section as well.

The overarching strategic approach to climate will also be detailed in this section. 

Many major companies will devote resources to their initiatives to achieve decarbonisation, with many Australian companies committed to net zero targets. 

In developing the sustainability report, most organisations include climate targets, forecasts and initiatives.

Scenario planning is also included, demonstrating a risk-mitigation approach to climate change. Best practice is to align the reporting in line with the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures.

Metrics often include scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, use of renewable energy, decarbonised transport options, fuel use and others.

Demonstrating social performance

A sustainability report will set out the organisation’s commitments, practices and outcomes on employees and their local stakeholders, human rights, community engagement, diversity and inclusion, and industrial relations.

Within this section is often information about workplace health and safety, including wellbeing and safety from harassment.

Targets and progress on gender diversity is included here, as is information about the company culture and programs.

This breakout box from Lendlease’s 2022 report highlights their initiatives effectively.

Governance reporting in a sustainability report

Sustainability reports often detail the company’s governance practices, including board diversity, executive compensation, and risk management.

Within this section there may be information about the company directors’ experience and skills, any committees in place to support the board, as well as policies and oversight practices.

Many organisations set goals for transparency and stakeholder engagement, and report against those targets in the report.

Cyber security frameworks are emerging as a key area for effective governance. Compliance with the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act may also be part of this reporting.

JB Hi-Fi outlines its performance against its ethical sourcing policy in its 2022 sustainability report.

Preparing your sustainability report

Overall, a sustainability report should provide a comprehensive and transparent account of the company’s sustainability performance and commitments.

Sustainability and ESG frameworks are rapidly becoming key non-financial performance indicators for companies. 

Find out more about sustainability reports here.

How to structure an annual report?

An annual report generally features some basic sections to provide an overview of the organisation. These include:

• Cover and credits
• Acknowledgement of Country
• Contents
• Annual highlights
• CEO report – providing a year in review with specific outcomes and achievements
• Chair or directors’ report – setting the achievements of the organisation into a broader context in line with the strategic plan
• Vision, strategy and mission statement
• Key achievements 
• Project reports, often divided into sections for different segments of the business. Sometimes case studies or breakout sections
• Financial statements
• Auditor’s statement. 

What is an annual report? 

The compulsory reporting must be included for the financial year of the annual report. Most organisations also choose to include additional information to inform their customers, donors and other stakeholders. This often goes to their strategies and key outcomes.

Most organisations also provide insights into their future actions, and plans for growth. Throughout 2021 and 2022, many leaders have described how their business has overcome the challenges of recent years: pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and skills shortages.

Explaining this can demonstrate the organisational capacity and resilience. Likewise, engagement and partnerships with other organisations are important to note in an annual report. A corporate annual report would also include the remuneration report for key executives.

What is a directors’ report?

The Chief Executive Officer’s report within the annual report can provide readers with useful information about the financial and performance outcomes of the business. It provides analysis and operational highlights of the year, such as recruitments, launches, developments or products. This report is written in formal language with a corporate tone.

Now, to the drafting of the report

While the annual report is an important corporate document, it should also have the personality of the organisation. Each report should be framed around a particular key message. Often this is linked to the corporate mission or strategy. For example, for a peak body, it could be a focus on consumers or member advocacy. For a business, it could be on operational resilience or creating new opportunities. The key message is the consistent theme, around which the rest of the content is based.

Tips for writing an annual report

• Make time and determine a structure

An annual report can be a sizeable document. Often it involves collating information from across the organisation, and extracting highlights from different departments. This all takes time. 

• Ensure consistency

Ensuring consistency across the copy is important for the reader. This involves a considered approach to bring all the elements and make them work together.

• Use headings, graphics and breakout case studies if possible

Headings or graphics can also help to break up the text and enhance readability. Equally, to bring annual reports to life, use real examples of the organisation’s work in action. This can help to lift the content and make the strategy more relatable.

Sustainability case studies for business

In this “decisive decade” when we need to achieve peak emissions and start the decline, some companies are taking ambitious action on climate change. In the case studies for the South Pole CDP report, we profiled a range of different ways Asia-Pacific corporates were changing their practices.

Australia-based Scentre Group has reduced its portfolio emissions more than 37 per cent since 2009, beating its five-year target, and will power all its New Zealand property holdings with renewable energy this year.

Adani Green Energy has a vision to develop 25 GW of renewable energy by 2025 and 45 GW by 2030. It is also creating the largest solar generation portfolio in India.

And Thailand’s cement producer Siam Cement has announced a net-zero target, with short-term targets in place. With its operations among the tough questions of carbon-reduction, the company has outperformed its intensity-based targets to cut emission more than 10 per cent in 2020.

Communicating your sustainability initiatives

Reporting and disclosure are key elements to drive climate action.

Sharing climate action strategies and progress with stakeholders is essential to inform the public and investors, but also to deliver a roadmap of different ideas for other companies to follow.

Sustainability communication is vital as all organisations take their own decarbonisation journey.

Key undertakings such as sustainability report writing, carbon project case studies and other ESG showcases will inform and guide the way, as the world progresses towards the lower-carbon future.

The South Pole CDP report achieved international media coverage, including in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, the Oxford Business Group newsletter.

Sustainability, ESG and carbon project writing

This was one of the best reports I have worked on as a sustainability content writer. Previously I’ve edited corporate ESG reports, as well as written about sustainability initiatives in transport, mining, and industry.

This project, however, involved sorting through analyses of almost 4000 companies to determine trends and highlight great initiatives.

It was a stellar team from South Pole and CDP as well. I thank South Pole for their kind feedback: “We recently collaborated on a thought-leadership report and Rosanne went above and beyond every step of the way. She is efficient, responsive, engaged and her writing was excellent. She did a great job of understanding and interpreting complex technical data to create interesting narratives.”

Establish weekly plans for your content

Once you’ve established your quarterly goals, consider the mix of content you want to create and map out the content to the topic. 

You might want to try a Q&A video of one of your executives posted to LinkedIn, or have a series of ghost-written articles from another expert discussing various aspects of their work.

Case studies from clients are always a great way to demonstrate your work to a broader audience.  

Don’t forget the additional requirements you will have for your annual report planning and delivery, or other communications requirements.

Australia’s NDIS, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, offers government-supported services for people under 65 who have a disability.

What started in 2013 has now become a $23.2 billion endeavour, with the Budget estimates planning $31.9bn spent in 2024-2025.

Current disability issues includes the Australian Government’s Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

Better known as the Disability Royal Commission, it has wide-ranging powers to investigate, assess and recommend improvements for the lives and care of people with disabilities in Australia.

Almost 3000 individuals, groups and organisations have given statements so far, and there are another two years to go until the commissioners complete their task.

The content can be sad and disturbing, but it is critical to finding a better way to care for our vulnerable.

This article for CareAbout goes into the commission, but also how to access quality services through their portal.

It was great working with the platform on this content, as well as this article about animal-assisted therapies under the NDIS and the recent Aged Care Royal Commission.