You are a shareholder in a listed company and are told that last year the company’s net profit after tax increased from £100m to £130m, and that the management of the company is therefore performing extremely well.

a What additional information would you want in order to assess the effectiveness of management? (Produce a list, and do not look at (b) until you have done that!)

b Obtain the published annual report and accounts of a listed company. How much of what you wanted to know does it tell you?