ARA Criteria

For the purposes of an entry in the ARA Awards, an annual report may be comprised of one or more documents that contain full audited annual financial statements* and descriptive information about the activities of the reporting entity in accordance with the ARA Criteria.
(* For some reporting entities, an audit review may satisfy auditing obligations.)

Many organisations provide annual report information in separate, but usually linked parts, such as concise reports, annual reviews or sustainability reports in addition to annual financial statements. On the ARA Entry Form, entrants must list the parts of the annual report they are submitting for the General Award and any Special Awards, and provide the URL(s) required to access documents.

General criteria apply to all reporting entities. Special requirements are set out below for specific industry or activity groups.

Concise reporting

Some organisations produce an abbreviated version of their annual report, often referred to as concise annual reports or ‘annual reviews’. These provide savings for the reporting organisation.

Concise reports can achieve ARA awards provided they have sufficient quality and quantity of information to allow informed decisions by stakeholders.

Concise versions should provide appropriate discussion of both operational and financial performance and outlook and meet at least Australian Accounting Standard AASB 1039 Concise Financial Reports and direct users to the full financial report to ensure they are able to access detailed financial information.

Disclosures in the Concise Financial Reports must have been derived from the main Financial Report*.

Reports that fail to address appropriate matters can be marked down during the adjudication process and consequently can miss out on an award. However, many Concise Reports deliver excellent levels of disclosure and have achieved award level results. ARA will continue to assess the Concise Reports submitted against its published criteria. Excellence in disclosure, innovation and creativity in communication with stakeholders will be considered and awarded accordingly.

Note: For adjudication, where the (full) Financial Statements are not included in the Annual Report document, entrants must provide the URL of the separate Financial Statements with the Entry.

An annual report containing a qualified audit report on its financial statements may be excluded from receiving an award, depending on the nature, significance, and consequential adverse effects of the audit qualification on the reliability and usefulness of information in the annual report.