FY 2014-2015 Annual Report – Guidelines & Rubric
Firm Name: _____________________________________________________________
3 = meets minimum standards
Scoring Key
1 = no evidence; below standard
2 = little evidence or major flaws
4 = research well done; well executed; few minor
omissions; met standards
5= research well done; well executed; exceeds standards
COMPONENT & EXPLANATION
Introductory Components: 5 points/5%
 Cover page: All information present, including name of business, principal business
address, time period covered, logo, and any other information you feel is pertinent.
 Table of contents: Includes a major section for each area, sequential page numbers
and is organized and neat.
Letter to Stockholders: 10 points/10%
A shareholder letter is a letter written by a firm's top executives to its shareholders to provide
a broad overview of the firm's operations throughout the year. The letter should be at least 1
page and should include:
 Company overview – industry/products/services
 Firm's basic financial results
 Competitive landscape
 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis)
 Future plans, including acquisitions and growth plans
 Liquidity needs (cash flow needs) for future growth and liability payments
 Include a graph of sales projections from Business Plan versus actual explaining
significant differences.
 Expected 2014 – 2015 sales projections and any other relevant income statement
projections.
Financial Highlights: 15 points/15%
The section of a corporate report providing investors with an overview of the firm's
performance during the period covered by the report. It should primarily be shown visually
using graphs.
 Include and explain major statistics and figures such as: sales, net income, profit
margin, company profitability, etc.
 Graph of monthly sales, sales by product, sales by geography, sales to large
customers
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Board of Directors and Management: 5 points/5%
A list of the names and position titles of the company’s Board of Directors and top
management team.
 List board members alphabetically by last name.
 All NYC Boards of Directors include Iris Blanc, Nick Chapman, John Jastremski,
school principal, VE coordinator, and corporate mentors (if the firm has one)
 List top management of the company.
Corporate Message: 10 points/10%
This should not be a section in your annual report, but pervades the entire report. Can be
captured through visuals (pictures). Please refer to company annual reports such as:
McGraw Hill, Coca Cola, Disney, etc. Typically included is the following:
 Corporate mission: Mission statements usually include the company’s mission as it
relates to its products, services and customer philosophy.
 Management philosophy: How do your managers make decisions? Include an
organization chart.
 Product/Service: What is the company selling and what is the product (or key
products) including product features that will satisfy customer needs?
 Revenue and Profitability: Describe by product.
 Corporate Culture: What are the values, visions, norms, etc. of your organization?
Financial Statements and Footnotes: 20 points/20%
Include all financial statements which should show all financial activities of your business
and provide information on the company’s financial performance. This will include a:

Financial statements comparing projected to actual numbers showing percentage
changes and explaining significant differences. Statements that must be included:
o Income Statement
 Actual vs. Projected
o Balance Sheet
 Actual vs. Projected
o Cash Budget
 Actual vs. Projected
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Ratio analysis: Current Ratio and Quick Ratio, Gross Profit Margin Ratio, Net Profit
Margin Ratio, Debt to Asset Ratio
Explanation of balances in ‘Other’ categories such as Other Assets, Other Liabilities,
etc.
Footnotes to the financial statements
Financial Write-up. Your write-up can include the following:
o A written summary/explanation/interpretation of the financial data.
o Discuss cash flows.
o Discuss corporate debt levels. Break out the Current Loan Payable (due over
next 12 months) from the Long-Term Loan Payable on your balance sheet.
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Management Discussion and Analysis: 20 points/20%
Include a narrative discussion analyzing the company’s performance, financial condition and
result of operations and cash flows for the fiscal year. Management should also discuss the
upcoming year, growth expectations, future goals and growth strategies. Management
should include the following in its analysis and include visuals wherever possible:
 Financial performance: A brief discussion of the financial statements highlighting
important data. The financial statements are the most important part of the company's
annual report because they allow an investor or stakeholder the ability to better
understand and see what is going on with the company’s finances.
 Company goals: Both financial and non-financial goals and how they were achieved.
These can be broken out by department.
 Marketing and Advertising Plan: What actually happened versus what you planned
and why was it different?
 Market Research: What market research has your company performed and what data
was collected? Graph this data if possible.
 Advertising campaign: Which did you choose and did it work? How do you know?
 Target Markets: Who are they and include any concentration in a particular market
or geography. Include a graph.
 Trade Show Research: Why did your company design its booth the way it did? How
did you promote yourself prior to and at the trade show? Show your actual trade
show sales versus budgeted and include a graph showing this data.
 Corporate website: Did your website increase sales? Include a graph comparing web
visits to sales.
 Internet Sales Plan: What actually happened month-to-month versus what you
planned and why was it different. Include a graph.
 Brand Awareness: How did you make your customers aware of your brand? What
image did you create in your customer’s mind?
 Risk: What were the risks you expected? Did those turn out to be your actual risks?
How did you handle them?
 Strategic Direction: Discuss plans for future growth such as new products, etc.
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Additional VE Supporting Documentation for Year-End Reporting Requested:
15 points/15%
1. Annual Report – should include all above components
2. Bank Statement showing beginning balance at 5/1/14 and ending balance at 4/30/15
3. Loan Amortization Table – for loan that indicates key terms of loan, length, interest
rate, etc.
4. Loan Payment Table (if applicable) – shows what your company actually paid
5. Copy of contract used for sales to non-virtual entities with required contact
information (if applicable) with breakout of sales and tax.
6. Form 1120 VE – corporate tax return
7. Any additional supporting documents including April 2015 Payroll Register, 20142015 Asset Log, Sales Journals, etc.
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