I remember when I first encountered a hard copy FTSE 100 annual report. I was a first year undergraduate and my achingly left-wing lecturer in Business and Politics dropped copies in front of us in a seminar room, and asked us to rank the directors “on a fat cat scale.”

I can still recall the way he snarled at me when I innocently suggested that we could also consider shareholder returns. In addition to serving as props for disgruntled academics, annual reports serve a variety of purposes. For a long time they were mere regulatory requirements, mandated by law for public companies, built around financial statements and a directors’ report.

For all I know, my old professor is........

© City A.M.