Now in their fourteenth year, these prestigious awards recognise an ability to build trust with investors and customers, and to maintain transparency across all areas of corporate reporting. The independent judging panel sought a balance between content, quality and integration in companies’ reporting, recognising those who are leading the way with a fresh approach to meeting the needs of investors and other key stakeholders.
The judges at the described the M&S reporting suite as “very coherent and well-integrated all the way through”, commenting that “it’s very clear where value is created and sustained”.
M&S took home the top award for Corporate Governance reporting in the FTSE 100. One judge commented: “What sets M&S’s reporting apart is that you get a sense of authorship: you feel there’s a real human voice behind it taking responsibility.”
The significance of corporate culture in relation to communications was addressed earlier in the year in an article by our Communications Director, Ben Harding.
Pearson, meanwhile, won the award for Executive Remuneration reporting in the FSTE 100. The report was described as “very frank”, with one judge commenting: “It feels like the company is declaring issues before it’s challenged on them. I like that.”
The M&S Annual Report was also highly commended in this category, with the panel noting that “it answers the basic questions that non-specialists might want to ask”.