
Private meetings undermine fair disclosure, study finds
A NEW study has found significant evidence that hedge funds benefit from information they obtain in private meetings with company executives, adding to mounting research suggesting that selective access to management undermines regulators’ fair disclosure objectives.

CEO’s online video mea culpa boosts investment — study
A NEW study has found that when CEOs take responsibility for financial restatements and deliver the bad news via online video, investors’ trust in management rises and they recommend larger investments in the firm.
CICA publishes draft web reporting guides
A STUDY group of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) tasked with providing practical guidance on using the web for corporate reporting has published discussion drafts of three guidance publications.
Financial websites and blogs most influential with individual investors, study finds
A SURVEY has found that financial websites and blogs are the top influences on U.S. individual investors, while those under age 40 are more heavily influenced by family, friends and work colleagues than are older investors.
Obama gives corporations one less excuse to avoid web engagement
The example set by the Obama Presidency will put pressure on other public institutions, including public companies, to follow Obama’s lead to harness technology as a way to provide more transparency and encourage stakeholder engagement.
IR Magazine Award winners earn superior returns
IN WHAT is thought to be the first academic study to show that effective investor relations has a clear market impact, researchers have found that companies nominated in the US IR Magazine Awards earn unusually high returns both before and after the awards. And the researchers — Vineet Agarwal of Cranfield University, Angel Liao and [...]
Associations put online IR in spotlight
THE North American investor relations associations appear to be putting web-based disclosure on the front burner as the Internet moves to center stage and securities regulators increasingly rely on corporate websites to deliver information to investors. Earlier this week, Jeff Morgan, the new President and CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), called to [...]
Survey asks how teens socialize online
THE Pew Internet & American Life Project has released results of a survey of how online American teens use social networking sites. The research was conducted by telephone from October 23 through November 19, 2006 among a national sample of 935 youths ages 12 to 17, according to a Pew news release. The survey found [...]
More Large U.S. Companies Reporting on Social and Environmental Issues
A GROWING number of S&P 100 companies are reporting on their environmental and social performance, according to a study by the Social Investment Research Analysts Network (SIRAN) conducted by the independent investment research firm KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. There also is growing recognition of the Global Reporting Initiative‘s (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines, with more [...]
Survey finds analysts not into RSS, blogs or podcasts
A THOMSON FINANCIAL survey of North American investment analysts has shone a light on their technology use and found that many are still in the dark about new technologies like RSS and podcasts. The global financial information and services giant surveyed 304 sell- and buy-side analysts in an online poll to probe their needs when [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]