We have invested considerable resource in painstaking fashion to establish the validity of our innovative technique. FutureValue's Strategic Value Analysis programme is built on more than five years' experience of researching how companies include forward-looking content in their annual reporting.

In 2003 we first appraised the narrative sections of FTSE100 companies' annual reporting for the OFR Working Group. We evaluated the quantity of narrative extra-financial content by topic in annual reports. This revealed a notable diversity of practice in corporate reporting.

In 2004 we built on this, refining the focus of our research. We considered quality rather than quantity of narrative devoted to forward-looking content. Applying an evaluation framework defined by the provisions of the ASB 2003 OFR Best Practice Statement we applied a simple scoring system to rate and rank FTSE100 companies on a rigorous and consistent basis.

The Strategic Planning Society published our findings and rankings as the SPS/metaskil Strategy Index over four issues of Strategy Magazine [July 2004; November 2004; August 2005 and December 2005].

You can review our analysis, commentary and the ranking of the full FTSE100 by downloading the extracts from the relevant issues of Strategy Magazine: