An annual report is a collection of financial documents which, by law, some companies are required to prepare and submit each year to the government and to shareholders. Legal requirements vary slightly from country to country but normally an annual report would include most of the key financial statements a business can produce, a written statement describing the year’s trading from the company’s directors which will also often discuss the company’s outlook and expectations for trading in the year ahead, sometimes a summary of the company’s performance for several years previous, and sometimes also an auditor’s report, declaring that the company’s accounts appear to have been prepared according to generally accepted accounting standards.
After being submitted to the government, or the quasi-governmental agency which has been delegated to handle such things, the annual report and its associated documents are usually made available to members of the general public, either physically, through an office, or, in modern times, via a website.
An annual report contains a great deal of financial information related to the company’s business. It would normally be viewed by existing or potential shareholders, together with stock analysts, as a way of assessing a company’s current performance and making predictions about its future performance.