When I looked at Barclays (LSE: BARC) The results last week I was reminded of the words of Warren Buffetta, who once said: “Never invest in a company that you can’t understand. “

As a bank shareholder, I took part in the results of 2024, which were published on February 12. In particular, I was reviewing an extensive 536-page annual report.

What’s inside?

This is an impressive document. It contains 226 195 words – yes, I checked! Based on the average reading speed, 238 words per minute would take me almost 16 hours to read it all. But this does not leave time for a break. Understanding all this would take me much longer.

I am an accountant, so I am most interested in numbers. However, financial statements do not start only in page 423. Earlier it is necessary to break down all kinds of other information, including a report on the business review, climate and sustainable development and a section on corporate order.

Risk is clearly a large problem for the bank. Word – and its derivatives – appears 3846 times. Indeed, the risk review is amazing 134 pages. Reading potential challenges, I am surprised that the bank’s directors want to get out of bed in the morning.

And then there is some climate. Don’t get me wrong, we all have to play our role in saving the planet. But on 78 pages, Barclays has a huge amount of details. Do I really need to know that £ 42 billion was borrowed on real estate with an evaluation of the Energy Efficiency Certificate D?

Retreat

Warren Buffett claims that investors do not have to be particularly clear to earn money. He thinks that IQ 130 will do it. Unfortunately, mine is not high enough to deal with this overload of information.

But there is a danger of excessively complicating things.

I admit I don’t understand “the risk of franchise credibility“Or Basel Standards 3.1.

But I know that Barclays earns, encouraging customers to deposit his savings, and then borrows this cash to others in a much higher interest rate. Simple. I don’t have to read all 536 pages of the bank’s annual report to understand this.

And impressive, although interest rates began to fall, the net interest margin was increased, in 2024 to 3.29% (2023: 3.13%).

I know that banks’ earnings can be unstable. And there is no guarantee that Barclays will achieve their goals.

But I have a bank shares because when I invested for the first time, I thought they were offering good value. In addition, his growth prospects looked promising. Today my view has not changed. Based on the 2024 profit per 36 pence, shares trade a historical price ratio to profit 8.3. This is below FTSE 100 average.

Encouraging its results 2024 have overcome expectations, and the bank plans to significantly enhance the return from concrete capital in the next few years.

For these reasons, I think it is actions that investors may consider.

But I think it’s time to rethink again. The oldest annual report I can find in the bank comes from 1990 – it works on only 68 pages. If the Chancellor is seriously approaching the growth of Great Britain’s economy, maybe she should allow companies to focus on increasing earnings, not annual reports?