7.11 Four drafting slips in the 2024 committee reports: a misnamed Act, a misnamed audit regulator, net zero years and an engagement figure
UK Company A · a UK-listed medical technology group · Drafting slip
In brief
Four slips in the committee reports. The Audit Committee report calls the fraud-prevention law the '[wording masked]' on one page and, correctly, [wording masked] Act on the next. It names the UK audit inspection body as [wording masked]'. The Compliance & Culture Committee report speaks of '[n] and 2025 net zero' objectives, and the Our culture page labels the [n]% survey participation rate as 'employee engagement'.
The evidence, as filed
Screenshot withheld to protect the company’s identity: Annual Report 2024, page 130; Annual Report 2025, page 144; Annual Report 2024, page 131; Annual Report 2025, page 131; Annual Report 2024, page 133; Annual Report 2025, page 128; Annual Report 2024, page 127; Annual Report 2025, page 152; Annual Report 2024, page 72; Annual Report 2024, page 129; Annual Report 2024, page 128. Their wording or layout could lead back to the company even with names and figures masked; the evidence list below records what each page shows.
What the report shows, and what the rule requires
| What the annual report shows | What the rule requires |
|---|---|
| What the annual report shows '[wording masked]' (p.133, repeated in the 2025 report); 'the Company's [n] and 2025 net zero carbon emissions objectives'; 'Improved employee engagement [n]%', where [n]% is the survey participation rate. | What the rule requires '[wording masked] Act 2023', as on p.131; the Financial Reporting Council's Audit Quality Review; 'net zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by [n] and Scope 3 by [n], with a 70% Scope 1 and 2 reduction by 2025', as on p.72; '[n]% survey participation', with engagement shown as the [name] engagement score. |
What we checked: Each slip read on the page image and compared with the correct wording elsewhere in the same report.
Why it matters
Wording slips that a careful reader will notice in reports the Board signs off as fair, balanced and understandable; none changes a reported figure.
Exposure
Drafting only.
Our workings
Each item is a label or wording slip that changes no reported figure. The Act is named correctly on the following page. No UK body is called the Audit Oversight Board; the UK inspection of audit firms is published by the Financial Reporting Council's Audit Quality Review, and the same sentence appears in the 2025 report. The strategic report states the net zero targets as Scope 1 and 2 by [n] and Scope 3 by [n], with the 2025 date being an interim reduction target, not net zero. The Compliance & Culture Committee report gives [n]% as the participation rate, while the Our culture page presents the same [n]% as employee engagement.
Management’s best defence, and our reply
The company could say each slip is obvious from the context and that the correct wording appears elsewhere in the same report, so no reader is misled. That is fair for the Act and the net zero years. However, the engagement tile and the regulator's name are not corrected anywhere nearby, and the regulator wording was carried into the 2025 report.
The fix
- Use the Act's correct name, name the Financial Reporting Council's Audit Quality Review, state the net zero years as [n] and [n] with 2025 as the interim reduction year, and label [n]% as survey participation.
Evidence relied on
| # | What it shows | Type | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Audit Committee focus for 2025 names a '[wording masked]' | Document | Annual Report 2024, page 130 |
| 2 | The next page names the Act correctly | Document | Annual Report 2024, page 131 |
| 3 | Audit Committee report names an '[wording masked]' | Document | Annual Report 2024, page 133 |
| 4 | The 2025 report repeats the same wording | Document | Annual Report 2025, page 144 |
| 5 | Compliance & Culture Committee report refers to [n] and 2025 net zero objectives | Document | Annual Report 2024, page 127 |
| 6 | The strategic report gives net zero by [n] (Scope 1 and 2) and [n] (Scope 3), with 2025 an interim reduction | Document | Annual Report 2024, page 72 |
| 7 | Our culture page labels [n]% as employee engagement | Document | Annual Report 2024, page 129 |
| 8 | The committee report gives [n]% as the survey participation rate | Document | Annual Report 2024, page 128 |
| 9 | The 2025 explanation against the Listing Rule targets still says two directors were from ethnic minority backgrounds (the 2024 wording) | Document | Annual Report 2025, page 131 |
| 10 | The diversity table on the same page counts three Board members of Asian/Asian British background | Document | Annual Report 2025, page 131 |
| 11 | The same page names three directors from an ethnic minority background | Document | Annual Report 2025, page 131 |
| 12 | The Nomination & Governance Committee report sends the reader to pages 152 to 171 for the Remuneration Policy | Document | Annual Report 2025, page 128 |
| 13 | The remuneration report says the Policy is on pages 153 to 171; page 152 is the end of the Chair's letter | Document | Annual Report 2025, page 152 |
Prepared by Pramanex from the company’s published annual reports, without the company’s involvement, to show how an annual report review reads. The company is not named, and nothing on this page is a statement about any identifiable company. Observations are not an audit, review or other assurance engagement, and not legal advice. A regulator-style question is a question, not a conclusion.
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