Corporation issue a number of different reports throughout the year, but the annual report is by far the most important. The verbal section of an annual report is of the greatest concern to Financial Language Translation analysts because it generally provides a summary of projected future results, a recap of the past year’s progress and a special message from the company’s CEO or President. In addition to a verbal section, the annual report also includes a variety of financial reports that include a balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows and a statement of retained earnings. When the four financial reports are presented and analyzed, a shareholder can get a snapshot of the corporation’s financial strength. In addition, historical data is often shared (by quarter and by year) for recent years with call-outs of key business statistics for the previous ten years.

Even though investors place equal weight on both the the financial and verbal sections, Financial Translation workers are primarily concerned with the written section. While the verbal statements from the CEO usually explain why the company performed the way it did, a leading Arabic to English Translation worker in the investment industry explains that the financial statements report what has actually happened to earnings and dividends over the past few years. To illustrate, one multinational company experienced a large earnings variance in 2009 from levels experienced during 2008. Management reported that the drop resulted from losses associated with the global financial crisis and from increased costs due to an increase in energy prices. However, management then went on to paint a more optimistic picture for the future, stating that the economy is in recovery that several less profitable businesses had been eliminated, and that 2010 profits were expected to rise sharply.

However, any statements about future performance should be critically evaluated and not just simply accepted. To do this, an analyst should consider the accuracy of statements made by the management team in the past . Even though the accuracy of future projections may be questionable, investors still turn to the annual report for information about future earnings and expectations about dividends. That’s why the annual report is highly valued by current and future investors.The Securities and Exchange Commission requires publicly traded companies to file annual reports so that Investors and financial professionals can have information about the companies they are evaluating for investment purposes. According to Japanese Translation workers, the filings are available online through the SEC’s EDGAR database. Further analysis of the annual report allows investors to get a better idea about the strength of the company in terms of decision making, strategic planning and market competitiveness. It can take time to learn how to read an annual report properly, and many consumers prefer to leave analysis of annual reports to their stockbrokers or asset managers.

From the perspective of a translator, it is important to understand that Multinational corporations are business entities that operate in more than one country. For example, the typical multinational corporation normally has its headquarters based in one country, while other facilities are based in locations in other countries. In some circles, a multinational corporation is referred to as a multinational enterprise or a transnational corporation. Because multinational enterprises have manufacturing plants, sales offices and research and development facilities throughout the world, they must be prepared to communicate in a variety of languages. As a result, the translation of financial documents including annual reports is usually a requirement.

One should realize that the task of financial translation should only be delegated to those with the correct set of skills. That’s because an annual reports need to resemble a marketing brochure more than an official document while still using some financial and legal jargon. When you look at an annual report, most are visually appealing with effective graphics, attractive pictures and heavy paper that has a gloss coating. Therefore, it is not uncommon for translation agencies to seek out financial translation workers who are experienced in layout and publishing and have advanced skills in Microsoft Publisher or Quarkxpress and more preferably Adobe Indesign.