PROJECT REPORT ON

CORPORATE PUBLISHED ANNUAL

REPORT
IN THE SEATUBJECT OF
ADVANCE FINANCIAL
ACCOUNTING
SUBMITTED

BY

SHRIKANT SAHU
IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2015-16
UNIVERCITY OF MUMBAI
UNDER THE GUIDANCE
Prof. RAJIV MISHRA
SUBMITTED FOR QUALIFYING IN
M.COM SEMESTER I
EXAMINATION
V.K KRISHANA MENON COLLAGE
OF
COMMERCE AND ECONOMICS &
SHARAD

SHANKAR DIGHE COLLEGE OF

SCIENCE
BHANDUP(EAST),
MUMBAI-400042

CERTIFICATE
This is to certified that project in the subject of Strategic
Management undertaken by Miss Rajiv Mishra , Mcom
Semester I Examination
(Academic Year 2015-16 ) has not been submitted for any other
examination
and does not form part of any courses under gone by the
candidate . It is
further certified that he have completed all required phases of
the project.

-----------------------Internal Examiner

---------------------------College Seal

-----------------------------------------------------External Examiner
Principal

DECLARATION
I , SHRIKANT SAHU of M.COM Semester-I , Roll No .
48.
Hereby declare that the Project Title CORPORATE PUBLISHED

ANNUAL REPORT , submitted by me, In the submitted by me ,

In the subject of ADVANCE FINANCIAL ACCOUMTING during the
year 2015-16 is based on original work Carried by me
Under the guidance and supervision of Prof . Rajiv Mishra.

I further State that this work is original and not submitted

in any other university for any other examination

SHRIKANT SAHU
ROLL .NO 48
-------------------(Signature)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This Project on is a result of co- operative , hard
work and good
Wishes of many people . It Would not have been
possible without the
Kind support and help of many individuals and would
like to extend my
Sincere thanks to all of them.

My sincere thanks to V .K KRISHNA MENON

COLLEGE for their
guidance
providing

and constant supervision as well as

for

necessary
for their

information regarding the project & also

support in completing the project.

My special gratitude and thanks to Mr. P.A Menon

chairman of
V. K KRISHANA MENON COLLEGE , Mrs. SAROJ
PHANDNIS The
Principal for their constant guidance and giving me an
Opportunity
to do a project work.

My sincere thanks also goes to Prof RAJIV MISHRA

, Project
5

guide for 100% attention throughout the project

and her kind cooperation and encouragement which helped me in
completion of
this project.

CORPORATE

PUBLISHED
6

ANNUAL
REPORT

INDEX

Annual Report
Annual reports are formal financial statements that are published yearly
and sent to company stockholders and various other interested parties.
The reports assess the year's operations and discuss the companies'
view of the upcoming year and the companies' place and prospects.
Both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations produce annual reports.
Annual reports have been a Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) requirement for businesses owned by the public since 1934.
Companies meet this requirement in many ways. At its most basic, an
annual report includes:

General description of the industry or industries in which

the company is involved.

Audited statements of income, financial position, cash

flow, and notes to the statements providing details for various
line items.

A management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) of the

business's financial condition and the results that the company
has posted over the previous two years.
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A brief description of the company's business in the most

recent year.

Information related to the company's various business

segments.

Listing of the company's directors and executive officers,

as well as their principal occupations, and, if a director, the
principal business of the company that employs him or her.

Market price of the company's stock and dividends paid.

Some companies provide only this minimum amount of information.
Annual reports of this type usually are only a few pages in length and
produced in an inexpensive fashion. The final product often closely
resembles a photocopied document. For these companies, the primary
purpose of an annual report is simply to meet legal requirements.

ANNUAL REPORT AS MARKETING TOOL

Many other companies, however, view their annual report as a potentially
effective marketing tool to disseminate their perspective on company
fortunes. With this in mind, many medium-sized and large companies
devote large sums of money to making their annual reports as attractive
and informative as possible. In such instances the annual report
becomes a forum through which a company can relate, influence,
preach, opine, and discuss any number of issues and topics.
An opening "Letter to Shareholders" often sets the tone of annual reports
prepared for publicly held companies. The contents of such letters
typically focus on topics such as the past year's results, strategies,
market conditions, significant business events, new management and
directors, and company initiatives. The chairman of the board of
directors, the chief executive officer, the president, the chief operating
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officer or a combination of these four usually sign the letter on behalf of

company management. Some of these letters may run a dozen or more
pages and include photographs of the CEO in different poses (some
even expound on topics that, while perhaps of only tangential interest to
stockholders and other readers, are of importance to the CEO). More
often, however, these letters are significantly shorter, amounting to 3,000
words or fewer.
Annual reports usually advance a theme or concept that has been
embraced by company management and/or its marketing wings. Catch
phrases such as "Poised for the Twenty-first century" or "Meeting the
Needs of the Information Age" can unify a company's annual report
message. In addition, particular events or economic conditions of a given
year may be incorporated into the themes advanced in an annual report.
Companies also use milestone anniversariesincluding industry as well
as company anniversariesin their annual reports. Promoting a long,
successful track record is often appealing to shareholders and various
audiences, for it connotes reliability and quality. Still other companies
have developed a tried-and-true format that they use year after year with
little change except updating the data. Whatever the theme, concept, or
format, the most successful reports are ones that clearly delineate a
company's strategies for profitable growth and cast the firm in a
favorable light.

TARGET AUDIENCES FOR ANNUAL REPORTS

Current shareholders and potential investors remain the primary audiences

for annual reports. Employees (who today are also likely to be
shareholders), customers, suppliers, community leaders, and the
community-at-large are also targeted audiences.

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Employees
The annual report serves many purposes with employees. It provides
management with an opportunity to praise employee innovation, quality,
teamwork, and commitment, all of which are critical components in
overall business success. In addition, an annual report can also be used
as a vehicle to relate those company successesa new contract, a new
product, cost-saving initiatives, new applications of products, expansions
into new geographiesthat have an impact on its work force. Seeing a
successful project or initiative profiled in the annual report gives
reinforcement to the employees responsible for the success.
The annual report can help increase employee understanding of the
different parts of the company. Many manufacturing locations are in
remote areas, and an employee's understanding of the company often
does not go beyond the facility where he or she works. An annual report
can be a source for learning about each of a company's product lines, its
operating locations, and who is leading the various operations. The
annual report can show employees how they fit into the "big picture."
Employees also are often shareholders. So, like other shareholders,
these employees can use the annual report to help gauge their
investment in the company. In this case, the annual report can serve as
a reminder to employees of the impact that the work they do has on the
value of the company's stock value.

Customers
Customers want to work with quality suppliers of goods and services,
and an annual report can help a company promote its image with
customers by highlighting its corporate mission and core values.
Describing company initiatives designed to improve manufacturing
processes, reduce costs, create quality, or enhance service can also
illustrate a company's customer orientation. Finally, the annual report
can also show the company's financial strength. Customers are reducing
their number of suppliers, and one evaluation criterion is financial
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strength. They want committed and capable suppliers that are going to
be around for the long term.

Suppliers
A company's abilities to meet its customers' requirements will be
seriously compromised if it is saddled with inept or undependable
suppliers. Successful companies today quickly weed out such
companies. By highlighting internal measurements of quality, innovation,
and commitment, annual reports can send an implicit message to
suppliers about the company's expectations of outside vendors.
Sometimes an annual report will even offer a profile of a supplier that the
company has found exemplary. Such a profile serves two purposes.
First, it rewards the supplier for its work and serves to further cement the
business relationship. Second, it provides the company's other suppliers
with a better understanding of the level of service desired (and the
rewards that can be reaped from such service).

The Community
Companies invariably pay a great deal of attention to their
reputation in the community or communities in which they operate, for
their reputations as corporate citizens can have a decisive impact on
bottom-line financial performance. A company would much rather be
known for its sponsorship of a benefit charity event than for poisoning a
local river, whatever its other attributes. Annual reports, then, can be
invaluable tools in burnishing a company's public image. Many annual
reports discuss community initiatives undertaken by the company,
including community renovation projects, charitable contributions,
volunteer efforts, and programs to help protect the environment. The

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objective is to present the company as a proactive member of the

community.
This sort of publicity also can be valuable when a company is making
plans to move into a new community. Companies seek warm welcomes
in new communities (including tax breaks and other incentives).
Communities will woo a company perceived as a "good" corporate
citizen more zealously than one that is not. The good corporate citizen
also will receive less resistance from local interest groups. The
company's annual report will be one document that all affected parties
will pore over in evaluating the business.

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READING AN ANNUAL REPORT

People read annual reports for widely different purposes and at

dramatically different levels. Generalizations, however, are difficult. The
stockholder with five shares might be as careful and discriminating a reader
of an annual report as the financial analyst representing a firm owning one
million shares.
It may require an MBA to understand all the details buried in an annual
report's footnotes. Nevertheless, a good understanding of a company is
possible by focusing on some key sections of the report.

Company Description
Most companies will include a description of their business segments
that includes products and markets served. Formats vary from a
separate fold-out descriptive section to a few words on the inside front
cover. A review of this section provides readers with at least a basic
understanding of what the company does.

The Letter
Whether contained under the heading of Letter to Shareholders,
Chairman's Message, or some other banner, the typical executive
message can often provide some informative data on the company's
fortunes during the previous year and its prospects for the future.
Readers should always bear in mind that it is invariably in the executive's
best interests to maintain a fundamentally upbeat tone, no matter how
troubled the company may be. This is often the most widely read portion
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of the entire annual report, so business owners and managers should

make a special effort to make it both informative and engaging.

Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)

This section of an annual report provides, in a fairly succinct form, an
overview of the company's performance over the previous three years. It
makes a comparison of the most recent year with prior years. It
discusses sales, profit margins, operating income, and net income.
Factors that influenced business trends are outlined. Other portions
discuss capital expenditures, cash flow, changes in working capital, and
anything "special" that happened during the years under examination.
The MD&A is also supposed to be forward-looking, discussing anything
the company may be aware of that could affect results either positively or
negatively. An MD&A can be written at all different levels of
comprehension, but business consultants generally urge companies to
make the informationfrom balance sheets to management analysis
comprehensible and accessible to a general readership. This means
forsaking jargon and hyperbole in favor of clear and concise
communication.

Financial Summary
Most companies will include a five-, six-, ten-, or eleven-year summary of
financial data. Sales, income, dividends paid, shareholders' equity,
number of employees, and many other balance sheet items are included
in this summary. This section summarizes key data from the statements
of income, financial position, and cash flow for a number of years.

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Management/Directors
A page or more of an annual report will list the management of the
company and its board of directors, including their backgrounds and
business experience.

Investor Information
There almost always is a page that lists the company's address and
phone number, the stock transfer agent, dividend and stock price
information, and the next annual meeting date. This information is helpful
for anyone wanting additional data on the company or more information
about stock ownership.

PACKAGING THE ANNUAL REPORT

For most companies, large or small, the financial information and the
corporate message are the most important aspects of an annual report.
Many companies also want to be sure, however, that their targeted
audiences are going to read and understand the message. This is less
essential for privately owned businesses that do not need to impress or
soothe investors, but they too recognize that disseminating a dry,
monotonous report is not in the company's best interests.

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The challenge for producers of annual reports is to disseminate pertinent

information in a comprehensible fashion while simultaneously
communicating the company's primary message. In many ways the
annual report serves as an advertisement for the company, a reality that
is reflected in the fact that leading business magazines now present
awards to company reports deemed to be of particular merit. In recent
years, companies have also chosen to make their annual reports
available in a variety of electronic media that lend themselves to creative,
visually interesting treatments.
Of course, the personality of the companyand perhaps most
importantly, the industry in which it operateswill go a long way toward
dictating the design format of the annual report. The owner of a
manufacturer of hospital equipment is far less likely to present a visually
dramatic annual report to the public than are the owners of a chain of
suntanning salons. The key is choosing a design that will best convey
the company's message.

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SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORTS

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Few major trends have shaken the tradition of annual reports, but one is
the "summary annual report." In 1987, the SEC eased its annual
reporting requirements. It allowed companies to produce a summary
annual report, rather than the traditional report with audited statements
and footnotes. Public disclosure of financial information was still
required, but with the new rulings, filing a Form 10-Kprovided it
contained this information and included audited financial data and other
required material within a company's proxy statement (another SECmandated document for shareholders)met SEC requirements.
Promoters of the summary annual report see it as a way to make the
annual report a true marketing publication without the cumbersome,
detailed financial data. Financial data are still included, but in a
condensed form in a supporting role. Since its use was approved,
however, the summary annual report has not gained widespread
support.
In some respects, annual reports are like fashions. Certain techniques,
formats, and designs are popular for a few years and then new ideas
displace the old. Several years later, the old ideas are back in vogue
again. Other formats are "classic," never seeming to go out of style or
lose their power. A key to a successful annual report is not getting
caught up in a trend, and instead deciding what works best for conveying
the message.

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