---
title: "Research Services - Analysing trends in annual report language and content"
ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-e02f9a60-a006-4281-9139-6aac23d985b9"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-e02f9a60-a006-4281-9139-6aac23d985b9"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e02f9a60-a006-4281-9139-6aac23d985b9.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e02f9a60-a006-4281-9139-6aac23d985b9.json"
source: "Contracts Finder"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "THE FINANCIAL REPORTING COUNCIL LIMITED"
published: "2023-10-17"
---

# Research Services - Analysing trends in annual report language and content

Buyer: THE FINANCIAL REPORTING COUNCIL LIMITED  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-b5fd17-e02f9a60-a006-4281-9139-6aac23d985b9

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## Summary

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Limited has awarded a contract for Research Services - Analyzing trends in annual report language and content. The project aims to investigate various aspects of annual reports, such as boilerplate content, risk disclosures, and forward-looking language. The contract's value is £37,950, with a start date of October 17, 2023, and completion by March 31, 2024. The buying organisation is seeking to enhance transparency and integrity in business through this research, focusing on FTSE 350 listed companies' annual reporting trends.

This tender provides an opportunity for businesses involved in research and development services and related consultancy services to engage with the FRC. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) are encouraged to participate. Interested parties should review the tender documents, observe the timelines, and register their interest through the provided contact details. By engaging in this project, businesses can contribute to the understanding of annual reporting practices and potentially collaborate with the FRC in advancing reporting standards in the UK corporate landscape.

## Notice

***THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE*** Background and Context The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) regulates auditors, accountants and actuaries and sets the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. We seek to promote transparency and integrity in business; our work is aimed at investors and others who rely on company accounts, audit, and high-quality risk management. As the Competent Authority for audit in the UK, the FRC sets auditing and ethical standards and monitors and enforces audit quality. The FRC Lab ('the Lab') provides an environment where investors and companies can come together to develop pragmatic solutions to today's reporting needs: * As a learning space, companies can use the Lab to test new reporting formats with investors, and investors can indicate areas where management can add greater value through the information they provide. * As a hub to support innovation in reporting, the Lab's focus on gathering and sharing evidence from the market provides the broader corporate community with feedback from shareholders on the value that new reporting formats bring. The FRC Lab commissioned research which will add to the understanding of recent trends in annual reports and how these impact the length and usefulness of reporting. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES The aim of this research project is to answer the following sets of questions: * How much (and which parts) of the annual report is 'boiler plate', static, or changing over time? * How have risk disclosures in annual reports changed over time (including the average time for a given risk to crystallise and then subsequently be removed from reporting)? Which risks are identified and disclosed most frequently across all companies, and categories of companies (e.g. sizes, sectors)? * How consistent are business model-related disclosures over time? How often do these disclosures change significantly? How much is 'boiler plate'? To what extent are business model-related disclosures consistent with the financial statements (including segmental and other 'back half' disclosures)? * How much forward-looking / strategic language exists in the annual report and accounts compared to backward-looking language? How is this split relatively between subsections of the annual report and accounts? * How have annual reports and accounts, including subsections1, increased in length and complexity over time? SCOPE This research will cover the annual reporting of all FTSE 350 listed companies; we expect trends to identified, with respect to the research questions above, based on at least five years of past reporting (2017 to 2021). ***AWARD NOTICE*** Additional information: THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE. THIS TENDER HAS BEEN COMPLETED.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Contracts Finder |
| Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/814bdcec-9ea0-4ffd-987b-4a9328f7c6a6 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure (below threshold) |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 17 Oct 2023 |
| Submission deadline | 24 Aug 2023 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 10 Sep 2023 |
| Contract period | 16 Oct 2023 - 31 Mar 2024 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £39,999 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £37,950 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE FINANCIAL REPORTING COUNCIL LIMITED |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | Central London |
| Postcode | EC2Y 5AS |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | City of London |
| Electoral ward | Bassishaw |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | LANCASTER UNIVERSITY |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

## Release History

- 17 Oct 2023 at 15:38 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/814bdcec-9ea0-4ffd-987b-4a9328f7c6a6
- 24 Jul 2023 at 13:34 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/37b5c46c-8834-4493-8b44-8d04900e5330

## Documents

- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/814bdcec-9ea0-4ffd-987b-4a9328f7c6a6
  17th October 2023 - Awarded contract notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/37b5c46c-8834-4493-8b44-8d04900e5330
  24th July 2023 - Opportunity notice on Contracts Finder
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/6b32346a-d9b4-4153-bb1e-ff0cadc2615e
- https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/a8a29f1a-562c-4bdd-8451-34b30efd2442

## Notice URLs

- https://www.frc.org.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-e02f9a60-a006-4281-9139-6aac23d985b9. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-e02f9a60-a006-4281-9139-6aac23d985b9.json.