Annual reports have come under fire by the UK accounting standard-setter for being too 'cluttered'. In its latest report, Rising to the Challenge, the Accounting Standards Board details areas that add to the clutter in financial reports of 50 UK listed companies. Although it found most companies are providing 'a good standard of information in their financial reviews' there is room for 'significant improvement'. Areas dubbed most problematic include corporate social responsibility and risk reporting. 'Listing every conceivable risk just adds to clutter,' Ian Mackintosh, chairman of the ASB, said. 'A number of companies resorted to simply providing descriptions of generic risks that could be easily cut and pasted into many other FTSE annual reports.' The report said that although many shareholders and lenders are increasingly interested in environmental and other social impacts, any detailed narrative surrounding sustainability issues could be dealt with in a separate report. Conclusions did acknowledge that the current environment led to some difficulties for companies, and that there was confusion regarding whether trends should refer to the macro environment or company-specific factors.