UK National Audit Office publishes Good Practice in annual reporting

In February 2021 the UK National Audit Office (NAO) published an interactive guide which set out principles for good annual reporting.

The guide provides practical examples where bodies have made their context more understandable to the reader through use of graphics, plain language and signposting, tables, pictures and case studies.

NAO reviewed Annual Reports and Accounts for 2019-2020, which were published in 2020 in order to provide an outline for all bodies to think about as they plan their annual reporting for 2020-2021.

The guide draws on examples of good practice from within each of the six sections of an Annual Report: strategy, risk, operations, governance, measures of success, financial performance.

Good-practice examples include details of the financial, service delivery and operational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and are aimed at helping stakeholders understand the pandemic’s impact on an organisation’s strategy, plans and operational and financial performance.