An annual report is a key means by which an entity tells the story of its year.
Background
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 undertaken a review of annual reporting and has published a Good Practice Guide. She has also sought to encourage and to share best practice through delivery of workshops and the publication of Annual Reporting Self-Assessment Tools.
The Transparency and Excellence in Annual Reporting publications have been based on the C&AG’s review of the annual reports and, where available publicly, the annual accounts produced by the States of Jersey, States controlled entities and entities established by the States.
The publications, events and awards considered the content of all the annual reports and accounts reviewed against an annually updated 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.
This report sets out the findings from the review of the 2025 annual reports of the States of Jersey and 40 States controlled entities and States established entities.
Objectives and Scope
This audit has considered 2025 annual reports against updated criteria encompassing:
- minimum content that I consider enable stakeholders to hold the entity to account effectively
- enhanced practice elements of a good annual report; and
- best practice principles for excellent public reporting.
This audit has focussed on the 2025 annual reports of the States of Jersey, States controlled entities and entities established by the States, as available on or before 31 July 2026.
The C&AG has also followed up the status of previous recommendations made to the States of Jersey regarding annual reporting.
This audit has used a results oriented approach, assessing the extent to which annual reports meet the minimum standards, enhanced practice and best practice criteria that have been identified and published.
In December 2025, an updated Annual Reporting Best Practice Checklist – 2025 Reports was issued. This checklist provides the criteria against which the C&AG has assessed the transparency and excellence of the annual reports reviewed. The checklist can be found on the Jersey Audit Office website.
Conclusions
The annual reporting requirements placed on entities controlled or established by the States are inconsistent. The result is that:
- some parts of the States of Jersey are required to publish stand-alone annual reports in addition to their financial transactions, activities and performance being included in the States of Jersey annual report
- there is limited consistency as to the deadlines by which annual reports are required to be published; and
- some smaller States established entities have disproportionate accounts and audit requirements placed on them compared to some larger entities.
The majority of annual reports for larger and medium sized entities reviewed meet the minimum standards identified for each of the four overarching principles that demonstrate transparency and excellence in annual reports:
- supporting accountability
- transparent
- understandable; and
- accessible.
Many of these entities are also able to demonstrate enhanced and best practice in respect of the overarching principles.
The C&AG considered how annual reports met minimum standards, enhanced and best practice in the following areas:
- strategy
- risks
- operations
- governance
- measures of success
- financial performance; and
- external factors.
Many larger and medium sized entities meet minimum standards in respect of the content of their annual reports and show elements of enhanced and best practice. There remain opportunities for entities to:
- more clearly articulate the thread between purpose, strategic objectives and key programmes and set out a balanced view of progress and plans to implement priorities
- identify and report key Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives in the context of a recognisable and relevant sustainability framework
- improve the reporting of risk appetite and risk treatment criteria (for example, tolerance or mitigation)
- improve the reporting of how the delivery model adopted by an entity achieves value for money and how capital investment (where relevant) achieves value for money
- improve staff and executive remuneration reporting; and enhance the use of benchmarking when reporting financial performance.
While some small entities have made significant improvements to their annual reports since 2020, the C&AG continues to observe that other small and very small entities fail to meet the minimum standards expected from annual reports. Accountability, transparency and efficiency in reporting by the smaller entities whose financial transactions are included in the States of Jersey Annual Report but which are also are required to publish stand-alone annual reports would be improved by:
- better cross referencing between the entities’ annual reports and the
- States of Jersey annual report; and
- the use of a consistent template or framework, establishing minimum requirements, for the production of the annual reports of smaller entities.
Annual reports are a key means by which an entity tells the story of its year. Good annual reporting enables stakeholders to hold the entity to account effectively.
The C&AGs first report on Annual Reporting was published in August 2020. Since that time, she has observed year on year improvements in the annual reports produced by most entities. Many entities, regardless of size, demonstrate aspects of enhanced and best practice reporting as well as meeting all, or the vast majority of, minimum standards.
