Such concept as “user group” can be interpreted as a group of stakeholders who have the capacity to affect the functioning of the company and who are affected by the company (Alexander & Britton, 2004 p 8).
There are several user groups that can be interested in the company’s reports: stockholders, investors, employees, customers, governmental agencies (in particular, revenue services), and non-profit organization such as consumer associations, trade unions or environment protection organizations (Wilson, 2007, p 12). However, these people can be interested in different kinds of information; their interest will depend on how the company influences them.
Stockholders are most likely to be interested in the financial performance of Wing Tai Properties during a certain period. They usually pay more attention to balance sheet and cash flow statements. Yet, stockholders may want to know how the company is managed, who is responsible for this task.
This interest is quite understandable since managerial policies shape the functioning of the company. Similar information can be required by investors who want to decide if it is prudent to invest capital into Wing Tai Properties. Apart from that, these people usually focus on the customer management in the company and the HR incentives of this enterprise.
Employees of the organization will be willing to learn more about the initiatives that the company takes to promote their well-being. As a rule, they focus on compensation packages, retirement benefits and pension scheme.
For instance, Wing Tai offers shares as a part of compensation to the employees who work in the company for a long time (Wing Tai, 2009, p 11). In other words these people want to know what the company can do for them. The employees may need information about the financial performance of the corporation in order to determine whether it is possible to negotiate for better wages.
Furthermore, we need to speak about the customers of Wing Tai Property. These people are most likely to be interested in price and quality benefits provided by the company. In this case, we need to speak about the discounts offered by Wing Tai Properties.
It should be mentioned that this organization sells both goods and services to the clients, and they usually pay attention to the pricing policies of the enterprise. Secondly, this user group pays attention to the environmental safe of products, sold by the company. This argument is particularly important when we are referring to garments of Wing Tai (Wing Tai, 2009, p 68).
Finally, one should not overlook governmental and non-governmental organizations. This user group includes many actors such as internal revenue service, consumer unions, trade unions, and environment protection organizations.
They are usually interested in the following aspects of the company’s work: 1) the integrity of financial reporting, 2) willingness of the management to comply with labor laws of the country, and finally, 3) its ability to foster environmental safety. For example, environment protection agencies may want to know about the company’s investment of the development of eco-friendly technology.
These are the major user groups that we can identify. One should take into consideration that user groups can pay attention different kinds of information. For instance, it is quite probable that an investor may inquire about the work of R&D (Research and Development) department in the company. Moreover, this person may look for information about HR management in Wing Tai Properties. In this paper, we have identified the primary interests of user groups.
References
Alexander D. & Britton A. Financial reporting. NY: Cengage Learning EMEA.
Wilson. R. 2007. Finance for Sport and Leisure Managers: An Introduction. London: Taylor & Francis.
Wing Tai Asia. 2009. “Annual Report 2009” Web.