University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
The New Investor Relations
Book

The New Investor Relations

Expert Perspectives on the State of the Art

Benjamin Mark Cole
Bloomberg Press, 2003
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

After the wave of corporate scandals and new regulations, a book like this needed to be written, particularly a book that covers the field of investor relations and includes advice from the leading professionals. This comes as close as anything you have been offered so far. Alas, its style and timeliness fall short (it offers clichés couched in academic prose and presents year 2000 regulations as new), but it offers abundant information. This is a helpful and useful run-down, particularly Chapter 10, which covers proxy wars. Non-U.S. companies will also find Chapter 13 very relevant. If you need an IR overview, getAbstract.com believes you can satisfactorily start here.

Summary

The Basics

What does Investor Relations (IR) mean? At minimum, the IR professional:

  • Forms and implements policies for disclosing information to investors.
  • Manages financial reporting to stakeholders, shareholders, regulators and others.
  • Makes the company clear to the market.
  • Holds investors’ hands, figuratively speaking.

Companies need IR whether their stock is moving up or down. A good IR team will work closely with the Public Relations (PR) team on five critical communication objectives:

  1. Project the image - Sometimes the company’s image (what it wants the market to think it is) requires substantive or strategic changes. IR can help determine the direction and shape of the company.
  2. Identify prospective investors.
  3. Select communication media.
  4. Execute the IR plan.
  5. Measure outcomes, adjust the communications and redirect as necessary.

IR professionals deal with two types of information and disclosure, defined by regulators as:

  • Structured - Required financial and regulatory reports (i.e. 10-K, 10-Q, MD&A).
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About the Author

Editor Benjamin Mark Cole has worked for two decades as a financial journalist. He is the author of The Pied Pipers of Wall Street: How Analysts Sell You Down the River.

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