3 tips for simplifying your annual report
COMPLEXITY is unavoidable in today’s ever more complicated and sophisticated business environment. Much of the complexity in corporate reporting, however, is created by the sheer volume of disclosure. The solution? Thoughtful reduction to achieve simplicity.
Is your annual report squeaky clean?
“A DECENT annual report is becoming like a hygiene factor—it’s like washing your teeth on a daily basis.” That was the observation of Mikus Janvars, Director of Corporate Finance at Evli Securities, one of several analysts featured recently in the video embedded below.
For insurance IROs, reserve adequacy is elephant in the room
LOOMING behind the various predictions of a turn in commercial lines pricing at some point in 2011 or 2012 is an “elephant” many companies find hard to discuss – reserve adequacy.
SEC's new guidance for websites imminent
THE US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is slated to consider publishing long-awaited new guidance governing how companies can use their websites to communicate with investors. According to a notice, the commission will meet Wednesday to consider publishing the “interpretive release” that is expected to address a number of important issues that could set precedents [...]
Reflections on 2008 annual report season
THE online annual reporting period in Europe and North America is drawing to a close — and except for an elite group of forward-thinking companies it has been a disappointing season. This was the first year where many companies had the option of delivering their reports on the web as the default option. This was [...]
Canadian IR websites underutilized, study finds
CANADIAN investor relations departments are failing to take advantage of web technology to communicate essential information and provide services to their investors, a study commissioned by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) has found. As part of a broader review of corporate reporting, a study group comprised of accounting and investor relations experts evaluated [...]
Dissent on SEC panel over XBRL
A PRIVATE advisory committee of the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week voted to recommend a watered down implementation of mandatory XBRL, prompting one member to warn that the move could “invite a chaotic outcome” and delay the technology well into the “next decade.” In a dissenting statement included in the SEC Advisory Committee [...]
Transparency 2.0: The executive pay widget
PERHAPS it’s a testament to how far corporate reporting and disclosure have come, but there was a time when shareholders had no way of knowing exactly how much they were paying senior executives to run their companies. Then came new regulations and companies began to disclose more precisely how much their top executives were being [...]
SEC outlines 2008 Web initiatives
MOVING forward on mandatory XBRL, issuing new guidance for corporate website disclosures, and keeping an eye on the e-proxy process are among the key priorities for the US Securities and Exchange Commission this year. In a speech Wednesday in San Diego, John White, the SEC’s Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, provided an update [...]
SEC urged to issue new IR website guidelines
A COMMITTEE created to advise the SEC on improving corporate reporting has urged the agency to update its eight-year-old guidelines for the use of corporate websites for investor disclosure. The Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting says there are “continuing concerns about the treatment of website disclosures under the federal securities laws that some [...]
Canada's top investor relations websites awarded
THE Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants has awarded its Award of Excellence for Electronic Disclosure to oil and gas company Nexen Inc.Runner up in the annual awards for electronic disclosure, which I recently rated as among the most reliable of such awards programs, was past three-in-row winner PotashCorp, the international fertilizer company. (Disclosure: We have [...]
For global IR, use the global medium
I CAUGHT NYSE-Euronext CEO John Thain’s presentation at the NIRI Annual Conference last week via webcast and found his views on the challenges facing the U.S. investor relations profession in an increasingly global market most interesting. He spoke at some length about the changes taking place for global stock markets and about doing investor relations [...]
Canadian IR firms question TSX’s IR conflicts
IT SAYS a lot about the quality of the people in the Canadian investor relations profession when IR consultants are more concerned about the integrity of the country’s capital markets than its regulators and main stock exchanges. That seems to be the case with the recent acquisition by TSX Group Inc. of full-service IR firm [...]
Subscribe to feed