An annual report designer can only move as fast as the content you hand over. For a company on the Bursa Malaysia Main Market, the clock is fixed. Paragraph 9.23(1) of the Main Market Listing Requirements, Chapter 9 (as at 31 October 2025) gives a listed company 4 months from the close of its financial year to issue the report. For a 31 December 2026 year end, that means 30 April 2027.
An annual report is the yearly document a company issues to its shareholders. For a listed company it must include the audited financial statements, together with the auditors’ and directors’ reports. Most of those four months are spent waiting for text, numbers and approvals. Layout is the quick part. This checklist covers what to gather before the first meeting, so the designer starts on real material.
Work backwards from the annual report deadline
Put the issue date on a calendar first. Then ask your auditors, your designer and your printer for their lead times. Write their dates in the same calendar.
The audited financial statements usually arrive last, because the auditors sign them after the year closes. Plan the front of the book to be finished before the numbers land. The financial section can then drop into pages that are already designed.
Bursa enforces the deadline. In June 2024 it publicly reprimanded a listed company and fined eight of its directors for missing it, along with its quarterly report deadlines (media notification dated 7 June 2024).
The brief: decisions only you can make
A designer can suggest a look. They cannot decide what your year was about. Settle these points inside the company before the first call:
- The main reader. Retail shareholders, fund managers and lenders read a report differently. Pick the one that matters most this year.
- The theme. One line that sums up the year, such as a new plant or a new market. The cover and section openers are built on it.
- The format. Printed and PDF, or PDF only. If you print, give a rough copy count.
- The page count. Last year’s count is a good starting estimate. Say if any section will grow, such as a longer sustainability statement.
- The language. English only, or English with a Bahasa Malaysia or Chinese version.
Write the answers on one page. That page is your brief, and every later decision gets checked against it.
Brand files and last year’s report
Send these in the first week:
- Your logo as vector files (AI, EPS or SVG), not a PNG cut from the website
- Your colour codes and your font names, plus proof the fonts are licensed for print
- Your brand guidelines, if you have them
- Last year’s annual report as a PDF, and the open design files if you own them
Ask about the open files early. If last year’s designer kept them, the new designer has to rebuild tables and charts by hand. Our note on logo files and rights explains which files to ask for when any design job ends.
Written content: who supplies each section
The written sections come from several people, and each one runs on a different timetable. Name an owner for each before work starts. Appendix 9C is the part of the Bursa rules that lists what a listed company’s annual report must contain. Most sections below are required by Part A of Appendix 9C in the same Chapter 9 document. The chairman’s statement is a custom rather than a rule, and the financial statements come in under paragraph 9.23(1).
| Section | Usually written by |
|---|---|
| Chairman’s statement | Chairman, with the investor relations team |
| Management discussion and analysis | Chief executive and chief financial officer |
| Sustainability statement | Sustainability or ESG team |
| Corporate governance overview, audit committee report, risk management and internal control statement | Company secretary and board committees |
| Profiles of directors and key senior management | Company secretary |
| Audited financial statements | Finance team and external auditors |
| Analysis of shareholdings | Share registrar |
| Notice of annual general meeting and proxy form | Company secretary |
Ask every owner for an editable Word file, not a PDF. Ask them to mark which text is final and which is still a draft.
Director profiles take longer than most teams plan for. Appendix 9C lists the details each one must carry. These include age, gender, nationality, qualification, the date first appointed and the number of board meetings attended. Collect them from each director early. The sustainability statement is often the longest single section now, and our article on the NSRF reporting timeline explains why its scope keeps growing.
Numbers and charts
Charts are only as good as the data behind them. Send figures as Excel files, one sheet per chart, with the units written in.
- Five-year financial highlights, using the audited numbers
- Segment results, if you report by business segment
- Sustainability data, such as energy use or headcount, with the year each figure covers
One timing detail affects the back pages. Under paragraph 9.25(2), the Part A information must be made up to a date not earlier than 6 weeks from the date of the AGM notice. So the shareholding analysis comes late. Leave those pages for the final round.
Photos
Book the board photo session early. Directors’ diaries fill up, and one missing face holds up the whole board page. Ask for a portrait of every director and key senior manager, shot against the same background.
Add photos of your real sites, products and staff if the theme needs them. Stock photos of people who do not work for you weaken a report that is meant to show your company as it is.
One approver per section
Most delays in annual report work come from rounds of comments. Five people sending notes on the same page will contradict each other.
Name one person who approves each section. Collect every comment into one marked-up PDF per round. Agree on the number of proof rounds at the start. Keep a final round for the auditors and company secretary to check figures and wording.
If your company is not listed
The Bursa rules above apply to listed issuers. A private company has no Appendix 9C list to follow, so the brief is shorter. You still need the brand files, the audited numbers, one owner per section and a single approver. Many private groups use the same process for their company profile, which needs the same inputs on a smaller scale.
Once the handover is ready, the next question is what the designer does with each section. Inside a Malaysian Annual Report: The Pages a Designer Builds From Scratch walks through the report page by page. If you would rather give this checklist to one team that plans the schedule, the layout and the print files, QC Fixer’s annual report design service starts from exactly this list.
Frequently asked questions
When should we brief our annual report designer?
Brief them soon after the financial year closes, before the audit is finished. The designer can build the cover, the section openers and the front pages while the auditors work on the numbers.
What is the deadline for a Main Market company’s annual report?
Paragraph 9.23(1) of the Main Market Listing Requirements sets 4 months from the close of the financial year. For a 31 December year end, that is 30 April of the next year.
Can the designer write the chairman’s statement for us?
A designer lays out text. The chairman’s statement and the management discussion have to come from the company, because the board is responsible for what the report says. A copywriter can help edit drafts your team has written.
Do we need to send the director photos in high resolution?
Yes. For print, send the original camera files rather than images taken from WhatsApp or email signatures. Low-resolution photos look blurred once printed.
Should we keep the design files after the annual report is done?
Yes. Ask for the open design files and the fonts list at handover. Next year’s team can then update the report instead of rebuilding it.
