Investor relations is a set of activities which relate to the ways in which a company discloses information required for regulatory compliance and good investment judgment to bond and/or shareholders and the wider financial markets. Investor relations is considered a specialty of public relations by the U.S. Department of Labor.^[1] Corporate redirects here. ... Invest redirects here. ... In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and interest (the coupon) at a later date, termed maturity. ... A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. ... Public relations (PR): Building sustainable relations with all publics in order to create a postive brand image. ...

Most public quoted companies now have dedicated IR officers or managers who looks after the company's investor relations activities and deal with investors wishing to know more about the company. Functions of investor relations personnel often include collection of information on competitors and dissemination of information via press conferences, one-on-one briefings, investor relations sections of company websites, and company annual reports. The investor relations function also often includes the transmission of information relating to intangible values such as the company's policy to corporate governance and its wider corporate social responsibility. A joint press conference by U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House. ... An annual report is a document which a company presents at its Annual General Meeting for approval by its shareholders. ... Corporate governance is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled. ... Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an expression used to describe what some see as a company’s obligation to be sensitive to the needs of all of the stakeholders in its business operations. ...

The investor relations function must be aware of current and up-coming issues which the organization may face, and which may have an impact on the organization. In particular, it must be able to assess the likely impact or reaction of any announcements (or any research reports issued by Financial analysts) to be made on the share price of a company. It will have top-level access to the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman or President of the corporation to ensure that the image of the corporation is maintained in a coherent fashion. A financial analyst (or securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst) works with financial analysis. ... A Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or Chief Executive, is the highest-ranking corporate officer, administrator, corporate administrator, executive, or executive officer, in charge of total management of a corporation, company, organization or agency. ... A Chairman is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, committee, or other deliberative body. ... Most of this article is about heads of state. ...

Due to the potential impact of legal liability claims awarded by courts, and the consequential impact on the company's share price, IR often has a role in crisis management of, for example, product liability issues and industrial disasters. Crisis management involves identifying a crisis, planning a response to the crisis and confronting and resolving the crisis. ... Product liability encompasses a number of legal claims that allow an injured party to recover financial compensation from the manufacturer or seller of a product. ... Industrial disasters are mass disasters caused by industrial companies, either by accident, negligence or incompetence. ...

The professional body for Investor Relations in the U.S. is the National Investor Relations Institute known as NIRI. In the United Kingdom, the recognised industry body is the Investor Relations Society, while in Australia the professional body is the Australian Investor Relations Association and in Canada the professional association is called CIRI (Canadian Investor Relations Institute). The National Investor Relations Institute, known as NIRI, is the professional association for investor relations professionals in the United States. ...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 increased the duties and roles of investor relations professionals. The act established new requirements for corporate governance, reporting, and disclosure and it added significant new criminal and civil penalties for non-compliance. Notable provisions of the act which apply to investor relations include enhanced financial disclosures and accuracy of financial reports, real-time disclosures, off-balance sheet transaction disclosures, pro forma financial disclosures, management assessment of internal controls, and corporate responsibility for financial reports.^[2] Before the signing ceremony of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, President George Bush meets with Senator Paul Sarbanes, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and other dignitaries in the Blue Room at the White House on July 30, 2002. ...

Notes

1. ^ http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos086.htm
2. ^ Edited by Benjamin Mark Cole (2004). The New Investor Relations: Expert Perspectives on the State of the Art. Bloomberg Press. ISBN 1-57660-135-8. 

External links

• http://www.niri.org - National Investor Relations Institute (US)
• http://www.ir-soc.org.uk - Investor Relations Society (UK)
• http://www.aira.org.au - Australian Investor Relations Association
• http://irfirms.blogspot.com - List of Top Investor Relations Firms
• http://www.irmagazine.com - IR magazine
• http://www.irfirm.net - Investor Relations Information

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