In perspective
Walter Merricks takes an irreverent look at the annual report and accounts ritual to highlight more effective ways of communicating impact
Is the time, effort and money expended on producing an annual report, compared to its readership and impact, the most disproportionate use of resources, and potentially the least effective medium of accountability of a public organisation? Having held senior executive and non executive roles in a number of charities and public bodies, my sad conclusion is that the ‘annual report and accounts’ often fails most of the tests you would want to set for effective organisational governance and performance. For most of the year, executives, trustees and board members rightly busy themselves with managing and overseeing the organisations they run. Then just as the year ends, a cloud of panic descends with the realisation that ‘it’s annual report time’ again. This article draws on observations from inside and outside the charity sector.
Author: Walter Merricks
Walter Merricks CBE qualified as a lawyer and then set up and led a pioneering community law centre in Camden.
Since then his career has involved law teaching, legal journalism and broadcasting, professional representation and regulation (the Law Society), financial complaints adjudication (leading the Financial Ombudsman Service).
He was a board member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and became its interim chair. He is now chair of the Office of Health Professions Adjudicator.
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