Annual Report Template

How to create an annual report with Xtensio

• Reuse and repurpose.
  Save your own custom annual report design templates. Or copy and merge into other documents.

Follow along step-by-step with the annual report how-to guide.

What is an annual report template?

Annual reports are a crucial part of your business and its yearly operations. The annual report is a financial document that businesses provide to shareholders, potential investors, employees and analysts as a source of information about the past year’s performance and financial well-being.

Generally, the first half of an annual report is devoted to company information, industry trends, and other important business news, while the second half usually contains financial data. Sometimes companies use the annual report as a marketing tool or a reminder to shareholder of its business achievements.

What information should be included in an annual report?

Annual reports provide a fundamental overview of the business during the previous year. Typically, the annual report contains categories such as a letter from the company CEO, data regarding the business’s finances and information about business activities.

Message from CEO and business profile

This is your cover page. Talk about your company’s mission and vision. How would you describe your company as a whole? What were the major goals for the previous year? How about your vision looking towards the future?

Year-end highlights

Highlight key business growth using numbers, clients’ names, partnerships, etc. Did you introduce new products or services this year? Or any new marketing campaigns or initiatives? It’s also a good idea to give an overview of any awards, accomplishments or major lists you were included in this year in this section of the annual report template.

Financial overview

This is what your shareholders really care about in the annual report. Showcasing your company’s financial statements allows current and future investors, shareholders, employees and other business stakeholders to determine how well the company has performed in the past, its ability to pay off debts and its plans for growth. You could include financial statements such as:

• Balance sheet.
• Cash flow statement.
• Income statement.
• Customer growth statement.

Industry highlights

Create an overview of where your market stands by outlining a few of your competitors. Where does the market stand? What did your competitors do well last year? Where did they fall short? Introduce key leadership team members

Putting a face to your company is important, especially if you’re using your annual reports as a marketing initiative to gain new interest from investors. Add a high quality cover photo for each team member and describe how each team member plans to help reach your company vision.

How do you write an annual report?

Annual reports are important elements of a brand’s transparency and accountability. These reports communicate the values and goals of your brand and align shareholders on future growth goals. That being said, you should create annual reports that easily speak to a broad audience since these reports can be shared across current and potential investors, shareholders, employees and even consumers.

Here are a few tips for creating an annual report design.

• Create highly visual and narrative-driven annual reports.
• Keep the color palette, fonts and images used in the annual report inline with your brand identity.
• Determine a key message that resonates through every part of your annual report.
• Map out your content – or use an annual report design template to help you structure your content.