Philips Electronics ignores academic research on its annual report
NETHERLANDS-based Philips Electronics has an unhealthy disrespect for its shareholders. Despite participating in an academic study showing that the majority of its investors prefer HTML annual reports, the company has posted its most recent report in a 219-page PDF blob. The company’s actions raise questions about its intentions and the transparency of its reporting. Doubt [...]
90% of S&P Global 100 companies fail annual report usability standards
LESS than 10% of the world’s 100 largest public companies are meeting basic usability requirements for their online annual reports to shareholders — and standards have worsened over the past three years. These are the main findings of an in-depth comparison of the online annual reports of the S&P Global 100 Index companies, the world’s [...]
Why it’s good to link away from your IR website
RECENTLY, I stumbled upon a 22-page brochure published by Thomson Financial offering advice to companies on how best to use the Web in their investor relations programs. For a marketing piece, the booklet is good, but one thing in it really caught my attention for the superficial thinking it betrays. According to the booklet (PDF [...]
Why online user experience matters
THE widespread adoption of the Internet in investor relations and securities disclosure has ushered in several profound realities and challenges that companies need to master to ensure the continued effectiveness and relevance of their essential communications. Take something as basic as the fact that most information today is consumed from a computer screen rather than [...]
Big companies snub small shareholders
LAST week saw the deadline for big American companies to file their annual 10-K reports with the SEC. There was quite a bit of hoopla this year because it was the first time companies were filing their internal control reports in compliance with the much-hyped Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley act. Most companies made the [...]
Using the Web to rebuild trust in CEOs
AT A RECENT roundtable discussion for Chief Executive magazine, several CEOs got together to brainstorm about how to win back the public’s faith in them. After talking about better governance, team building, customer relations and adopting good causes, these CEOs still couldn’t come up with an answer to their dilemma. To be fair, a lot [...]
10 excuses for boards NOT to blog
IF YOU’RE really quiet, you might hear the wringing of hands of corporate secretaries and general counsel everywhere. The idea that boards might blog or use some similar web technology to communicate directly with shareholders may sound frightening, but it’s a development whose time has come. Here are some of the thoughts, debates, myths and [...]
Why corporate boards should blog
DESPITE all the changes that new laws like Sarbanes-Oxley have brought to how companies are governed and managed, one thing has still not changed: directors still don’t talk to their shareholders. Sure, boards and directors may have private meetings with high powered institutional investors on issues of corporate governance, but they almost never communicate in [...]
Subscribe to feed