Businesses should focus on the story, advises corporate reporting specialist Black Sun as Business Secretary Vince Cable complains about the length of annual reports.

‘The Future of Narrative Reporting’ outlines suggestions and changes for businesses to increase transparency and accountability in their annual reports, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced on Monday.

“Simplifying the reporting framework and providing a clearer structure could help give companies the clarity that they need to produce clearer and more useful reports for investors,” advised Black Sun.

In his original message to BIS, Cable complained: “The average length of an annual report is now almost 100 pages and even longer for FTSE 100 companies. It has become unwieldy, complex and hard to understand, so investors cannot easily find the information they need.”

Cable also suggested companies improve measures when reporting on remuneration.

Sallie Pilot, director of research and strategy at Black Sun, explained that linking remuneration and key performance indicators is “another opportunity for management to rebuild trust with stakeholders, by presenting how the remuneration policy is underpinned to successful performance against strategy.”

Black Sun reports a year on year increase from 30% to 40% for FTSE 100 businesses who demonstrate this practice.