Organizations’ annual reports are essential documents for numerous shareholders, which provide crucial information on the company’s performance and achieved results. The presentation of such knowledge can yield significant information about the enterprise’s attitude towards its public contributors, highlighting questionable moments or pertinent issues within its structure. This paper evaluates the 2020 annual reports from the multimedia and graphics software industry companies Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive Software, analyzing the core features of the documents and their value for the shareholders.
Annual reports released by large-scale corporations become a vital source of data for the shareholders. As such, it is possible to note organizational differences while examining these documents, establishing the executives’ attitude towards its yearly performance (Ong et al., 2020). Electronic Arts presents a highly detailed and formal annual report, focusing on the fiscal details and offering an overview of financial productivity (Electronic Arts, n.d.). In addition, it appears that the enterprise is considerably focused on the aspects of compensation and monetary value, suggesting that the corporation’s organizational efforts are directed toward achieving maximum financial output. In contrast, Take-Two Interactive Software evaluates a broad span of yearly achievements, highlighting both net revenue and released products’ efficiency (Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., n.d.). Therefore, while Electronic Arts’ organizational goals might hinge on fiscal performance, Take-Two Interactive Software considers multiple company productivity areas.
A vital distinction between the two multimedia and graphic software enterprises is the presentation of their annual reports to their shareholders. As such, Electronic Arts strictly follows the requirements for annual report provision, including a step-by-step approach to achievement demonstration. However, such a presentation appears excessively formal and complicated, which might cause evaluation issues (Bradbury et al., 2020). Alternatively, Take-Two Interactive Software included a detailed overview of their performance before the document’s main body, clarifying the most notable accomplishments in an understandable format. Considering this detail, the information on the Take-Two Interactive Software productivity is demonstrated more clearly, allowing the shareholders to draw necessary conclusions without examining the whole file.
In the overview of obtained results, the two companies present very distinct goals, challenges, and plans anticipated and achieved during the year. For instance, Electronic Arts states that the primary aim was to deliver high-quality games and services, enhancing the overall execution and planning to improve the portfolio and player engagement attributes (Electronic Arts, n.d.). The most significant challenge appears to have been the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which decreased the efficiency of the enterprise’s operations. In comparison, Take-Two Interactive Software distinguishes several areas of activity, establishing such goals as successful growth and market acquisition, as well as discussing the plans for new releases and future advancements (Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., n.d.). The company also highlights the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, and the dependency on the continuous development of overwhelmingly popular products.
In general, the format and organization of each report are exceptional, progressively offering the readers vital information. As such, the Electronic Arts document is perfectly organized, offering relevant knowledge according to the logic of the text. After that, the Take-Two Interactive Software paper provides a summary of the report, enhancing the audience’s understanding of the achievements. However, the lack of a concise overview and a strictly formal presentation in the Electronic Arts file might discourage the readers, reducing the document’s readability (Ong et al., 2020). As for the Take-Two Interactive Software report, excessive details may distract the shareholders, compelling them to lose information focus.
To conclude, an evaluation of the 2020 annual reports provided by Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive Software companies was conducted in this paper, establishing the organizational and information presentation differences between the enterprises. It is evident that Electronic Arts is directed towards financial accomplishments and stability, while Take-Two Interactive Software considers a range of productivity factors and yearly achievements. Overall, the Electronic Arts document could be significantly enhanced by introducing an executive summary, and the Take-Two Interactive Software report might benefit from greater conciseness.
References
Bradbury, M. E., Hsiao, P. K., & Scott, T. (2020). Summary annual reports: Length, readability and content. Accounting & Finance, 60(3), 2145–2165.
Electronic Arts. (n.d.). AnnualReports.com.
Ong, T. S., Teh, B. H., Seng, K. C., & Ng, S. H. (2020). Does information overload of annual reports matter? International Journal of Financial Research, 11(2), 243–254.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (n.d.). AnnualReports.com.