The report even contains a financial glossary, which define the significance of some financial terms, such as "Current ratio" or "Return on equity." The irony is that you have to be a scholar in order to understand that the "Total debt to capital ratio" actually represents "long-term debt plus notes payable and current maturities of long-term debt divided by long-term debt, notes payable and current maturities of long-term debt, minority interest and total common shareholders' equity."
6. Use positive words that convey courtesy
The financial situation of International Paper hasn't been quite pretty in 2003, so the writers of the report chose to present a darker image, perhaps with the intention to get the readers (mainly investors) to believe that there was nothing that could be done about it. The first paragraph covering this issue is quite eloquent: "The business environment for International Paper in 2003 was difficult. Demand for paper and packaging products declined from 2002. Average prices were also lower than in 2002...Total industry segment operating profits were down from 2002 as benefits from cost reduction initiatives, and improved operating performance and a more favorable product mix, were more than offset by higher energy and raw material costs and lower prices." Anything could be said about this paragraph, except that it conveys a positive attitude. As for gender related aspects, the report has few instances where such an issue is considered.
7. Use a conversational style
IP's company report doesn't use for sure everyday language. After all, informal language in such a document could mean that the company is not really interested what its shareholders think about it or its management. Obviously, a situation like this doesn't please any manger. Therefore, it is not a surprise that the words used in the report sound quite "official." After all, the company's financial status-quo is bad enough on its own. Angry investors are something to be avoided, especially because of the use of colloquial language.
8. Keep sentences relatively short
However, International Paper and the writers of its annual report do not seem to be very concerned with this problem. Some phrases are quite boring and it takes several seconds to read them from the beginning to the end. Here is a sample of such a phrase: "We protect more than one million acres of unique and environmentally important habitat on company forestlands through conservation easements and land sales to environmental groups, and have a long-standing policy of using no wood from endangered forests." No doubt that there are better methods to express this thought, such as: "We protect endangered forests." The hundred pages of the report must have been filled with something, though.
9. Prefer the active to the passive voice
The active voice is preferred most of the time. The report abounds in constructions like "we will continue," "we've made progress" or "we'll become." Still, there are a few occasions on which the passive voice is used, such as "Much will be expected of International Paper's leaders - from strategic planning to customer value management to developing and engaging our people." The subject is missing, thereby avoiding hurting anyone's ego.
10. Develop effective paragraphs
Paragraphs almost never exceed 10 lines and are well structured. From this point-of-view, reading International Paper's company report is quite easy and any particular issue one might look for is easy to find. The structure of the whole text is actually well conceived.
11, 12. Develop coherence & Revise and edit
As I have mentioned above, the report has a very good general structure. Therefore, coherence is easily achieved. As for revisions and editing, the report was probably read and revised by several people, and the editing policy show a great amount of interest for the readers' opinion.
Bibliography
1. "Managerial Communication: Strategies and Application," Second Edition
Smeltzer L., Leonard D. Hynes G." Mc Graw Hill, 2002
