Transparency and Excellence in Annual Reporting

Background

An annual report is a key means by which an entity tells the story of its year.  Public annual reporting, done well, enables stakeholders to understand – with trust and confidence – an entity’s strategy and the risks it faces, how much money has been spent and on what, and what has been achieved as a result.  It enables stakeholders to hold the entity to account effectively.

In each year since 2020 the C&AG has published a report on Annual Reporting accompanied in each year by a Good Practice Guide. The C&AG has also sought to encourage and to share best practice through delivery of workshops, the publication of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the publication of Annual Report Self-Assessment Tools.

Consistent with previous reviews, for this 2024 report the C&AG has reviewed the annual reports and, where available publicly, the annual accounts produced by the States of Jersey and by Jersey entities that are either:

• identified by the States of Jersey in their annual report as controlled by the States; or
• established by the States Assembly and required to prepare an annual report and/or accounts.

The C&AG has reviewed 40 annual reports for 2023 that were published by 31 July 2024. The full list of annual reports the C&AG has considered since 2020 is set out in Appendix One of the report.  The C&AG has considered the content of all the annual reports and accounts reviewed against a set of criteria that encompasses:

• minimum content that the C&AG considers to be best practice for accountability to public stakeholders
• essential elements of a good annual report; and
• over-arching principles for good public reporting.

Scope

The scoring methodology for assessing 2023 annual reports is set out in Appendix Two of the report.

To assist entities in improving their performance the C&AG is also publishing an updated Good Practice Guide – updated for 2024 – that draws out examples from the better performing entities.

Conclusions

The C&AG is pleased to see that the improvement noted in prior years in the annual reports of States controlled and States established entities has mostly been maintained, and, in a number of reports, incrementally enhanced.

However, the rate of improvement has slowed, and the C&AG encourages entities to consider how to address the matters raised in this report and use her Good Practice Guide to make further improvements.  This should not necessarily mean adding to the length of reports, but stepping back to evaluate whether the annual report provides a fair, balanced and understandable assessment of what the entity does, and how it achieved its objectives during the year.

The C&AG is also pleased to note the progress made by the States of Jersey in implementing her recommendations from previous reports.  She will continue to monitor progress, particularly in relation to setting minimum requirements for annual reporting, including sustainability reporting, in States controlled and States established entities.