IR Web Report's Investor Relations Blog

I WAS going to write a long piece about how investor relations departments can use web technologies to increase their efficiency and effectiveness while simultaneously cutting their costs, but Dick Johnson had a more timely idea.

IR Web Report’s Q&As are unpaid profiles of service providers that we believe are doing interesting and innovative work in the area of online investor relations and stakeholder communications. If you would like your firm featured in a Q&A, we invite you to contact us using our general email inbox.

I’VE been otherwise occupied the last two weeks, so blogging has taken a backseat during what is probably the most interesting period in the financial markets that many of us are likely to experience in our lifetimes.

UPDATE: SEC spokesman John Heine sent me three emails in response to this article along with additional materials related to the SEC’s own trademark application. A US Patent and Trademark Office document (PDF 228 KB, 12 pages) forwarded to me by Heine says: “The Office records have been searched and there are no similar registered or pending marks that would bar registration under Trademark Act Section 2(d), 15 U.S.C. §1052(d). TMEP §704.02.”

IN PART one of this review, I mentioned that the US National Investor Relations Institute’s (NIRI’s) executive alert on investor relations websites includes a list of 14 Do’s and Don’ts for IR departments to follow. In this post, I review each of the guidelines and explain why I think they’re either good or bad.

THE US National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) has issued a 5-page briefing on investor relations website practices based on a review they did of the largest 100 US companies’ sites.

TWO influential US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alumni have raised concerns that broadening the use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to non-financial information will increase disclosure costs, raise difficult legal liability issues, and create burdens on companies that are “formidable in the extreme.”

AS THE US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers new rules to require companies to begin filing their documents in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), it has been having trouble finding software experts who can help make those filings usable to investors.

PR NEWSWIRE has trotted out its Disclosure Advisory Board (DAB) to say that they do not see companies changing their disclosure practices any time soon in response to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent guidance for company websites.

I’VE BEEN following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) moves around eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for the past few years and I’m confused about why they chose now to announce that they will be launching a new database to host XBRL for companies and mutual funds.