Dunk?s Annual Report 2002 On Annual Reports: Long on Words; Short on Ideas: Krispy Has Right Recipe.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

NEW YORK?-(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2002?-William Dunk Partners, Inc. released today its Annual Report 2002 on Annual Reports entitled, ?Long on Words; Short on Ideas: Krispy Has Right Recipe.?

?The 2001 batch,? said William P. Dunk, Managing Partner, ?makes very clear we have yet to recover from the recession the nation?s leading economists claim didn?t happen or, if it did, it didn?t amount to anything. Despite 11 interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, chief executives are running scared, quietly saying to colleagues they haven?t seen a turnaround. What we?re seeing for the first time is that the Fed can?t revitalize business, since it no longer can push the buttons that will re-inflate the economy.? Many smaller companies, even ones doing poorly, exhibited more confidence, however, possibly suggesting they will perform better and enjoy better stock market performance.

What the 2001 reports show, which are largely published towards the end of 2002?s first quarter, is an effort by major companies (a) to shore up their cash position and (b) to bolster confidence among all audiences that their companies will survive. Dunk claims, ?Companies didn?t do much on their top and bottom lines in 2001, but they built up their balance sheets, while they anxiously await the return of good times. At the same time, they wrote very long president?s letters underlining their strengths and excusing their performances and extended their financials to make sure investors believed their numbers.? GE and IBM were just two examples of companies that added some disclosures, so that the public would not think they were Enrons in disguise.

The report points out that the best response to a bad economy, the national gloom arising from September 11 events, and the Enron scandal did not come from America?s blue chips, but from feisty Krispy Kreme of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It abandoned a legitimate financing strategy that had aroused investor anxiety, bolstered its governance standards, and devoted its whole president?s letter to values and standards. It dealt with fear, distrust, and depression by walking its talk ? practicing and preaching strong values.

Despite the verboseness of this year?s reports, ?They lacked,? Dunk said, ?new strategies and clear ideas of what to do next.? Basically companies chipped away at costs and prayed for better times.

But there were exceptions. A good example was the Washington Post Company. It featured essays by Warren Buffet and Ben Bradlee that made clear the company had a strong management tradition and that it was very much on top of current events as exemplified by its reporting about September 11. Most importantly, it has figured out its next move. Chairman Graham expects Kaplan Education soon to be its biggest and most profitable business, overtaking the company?s media properties. It is one of a handful of companies that seems to know where it?s going.

Companies mentioned in this report are: AFLAC (NYSE: AFL); Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX); Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKa); ChinaVest; Coca Cola (NYSE: KO); Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX); Conseco (NYSE: CNC); Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ); Dupont (NYSE: DD); The Economist; Enron (OTC: ENRNQ.PK); General Electric (NYSE: GE); General Re; Gillette (NYSE: G); Hasbro (NYSE: HAS); IBM (NYSE: IBM); Jack in the Box (NYSE: JBX); John Deere (NYSE: DE); Kaplan Education; Knight-Ridder (NYSE: KRI); Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD); Lucent (NYSE: LU); The New York Times; Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL); Sprint (NYSE: FON); The Wall Street Journal; WalMart (NYSE: WMT); The Washington Post; The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO); Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB).

Dunk?s Annual Report on Annual Reports dates back to 1982 when Dunk, former president of Corporate Annual Reports ? then the nation?s leading producer of Fortune 500 annual reports ? prepared a study for Louis Rukeyser?s syndicated column, a collaboration that continued for many years. Over the years it has been cited in USA Today, Barron?s, several other global business publications, and in the syndicated column of Scott Burns of the Dallas Morning News.

More than 600 annual reports are reviewed each year to compile the report and to help in the assembly of proprietary data used for corporate branding services. The 2002 Annual Report on Annual Reports will be posted on its website (http://www.globalprovince.com/annualreports.htm) by May 31, 2002.

Founded in 1982, William Dunk Partners closely advises chief executives in North America, Europe, and Asia. More details about its operations can be found at: http://www.globalprovince.com/williamdunkpartners.htm. Its clientele includes numerous healthcare, financial service, management consulting, and high technology firms ranging from $1.7 million to $125 billion in sales.