Traditionally, the primary audience for the annual report and accounts, including the management commentary and other reports commonly included, are the company’s investors.

The assumption that financial stakeholders are the principal audience for corporate reporting has been reinforced by the IFRS Foundation linking the usefulness of reported information to investment decision-making, a concept that has also been adopted by the FRC.

For corporate reports to be useful for decision-making, the information they contain, beyond that specifically required by laws and regulations, should be “material” - "that is if omitting, misstating or obscuring that information could reasonably be expected to influence the decisions that the primary users make on the basis of these report".