LSET aims to follow best practices in collecting, analysing and reviewing performance data from all stakeholders, with associated reporting and action planning. To support this, LSET follows the following principles stated:
- Supporting Accountability
- Tell the story of LSET in a fair and balanced way
- Compliance with the relevant reporting requirements
- Clear action points to take forward
- Transparency
- Frank and honest analysis
- Consideration of the challenges the LSET is facing
- Appropriate use of data
- Quantification of risks and performance measures
- Accessibility
- Highlights key trends in the financial statements
- Concise summaries of key points
- Consideration of how LSET engages with key stakeholders and meets their needs
- Understandable
- Plain English to explain difficult concepts
- Infographics and diagrams to communicate important messages
- Clearly integrated structure to help users navigate it effectively
These principles should be evident across the sections of the annual report:
- Strategy
- Clarity around purpose, strategic objectives and key programmes/projects
- A balanced view of progress against objectives
- Details of future plans to implement priorities
- The strategy is clearly linked to performance measures and risks
- Risk
- Clear articulation of the LSET’s risk management process
- Risks reflect the external environment and implications to the entity
- The linkage between risks, strategic objectives and the annual report narrative
- Quantified risks and realistic planned and implemented mitigations
- Discussion about how the dynamic of the risk profile has changed over time, including developments in relation to specific risks disclosed
- Operations
- Discussion of the different delivery models, the reasons for using these models and how they achieved value for money
- For significant contracted-out services: discussion of how these contracts are awarded and how the entity manages the ongoing contract
- Consideration of capital investment and how it achieves value for money
- Governance
- Narrative which clearly demonstrates the governance structure and tone at the top
- Transparent information about how the management works effectively to govern the LSET
- Measures of success
- Quantified KPIs aligned to strategic objectives
- A balanced assessment of goals achieved and performance against targets
- Graphics used to illustrate the performance
- Financial performance
- An understandable and fair reflection of financial performance which is consistent with the underlying financial statements
- Discussion of actual performance against expected/budgeted performance
- External factors
- An annual report that considers the external drivers that influence and impact on current objectives
LSET required all its stakeholders to properly understand the LSET’s strategy, key risks
that might get in the way of delivering this strategy and the effectiveness of their management, and the amount of money that has been spent to deliver the outcomes the organisation seeks to achieve. Line and space formatting needs to be done.
LSET aims to provide a coherent structure to its annual report on its strategic objectives, and performance against defined key performance indicators; and risk reporting. This report should include the following;
- A balanced assessment of the risks and opportunities LSET faces, and plans to mitigate these in order to achieve future objectives.
- Information about financial performance drawing on audited figures in the financial statements to offer relevant insights in a way which is easily understood by a lay reader.
- The detailed narrative around external factors facing an organisation, including approaches to managing the impact of the pandemic and better-quality sustainability reporting.
The LSET management must ensure that its report is accessible to users who may not have prior knowledge of the organisation or financial expertise.
