More large U.S. companies reporting on social and environmental issues
There is definitely an increase in activity, but companies still seem to be struggling with what information to provide to investors and how best to do so.

Bank error in your favor, collect $64,000,000
While this example is one of the more bizarre situations we've seen recently, it is not uncommon for us to find similar evidence of poor site management. Many companies are still trying to work out how best to handle managing their websites.

Shallow earnings call archives raise questions
Companies that post conference call webcast replays on their sites for only short periods are making a big mistake. They often appear less transparent than other companies and may lose investors to other websites.

Survey: good service makes investors loyal
The message seems to be that providing online services for shareholders and being fast and efficient with service enquiries can build shareholder loyalty. Excellent service may also encourage investors to add to their holdings in the company and recommend the company to friends and family.

Who's believable about CEO pay?
A CEO lobby group has attacked the media's portrayal of their compensation with a report claiming the pay is fair -- but the group's research is being called into question.

Behind the scenes at the 2006 materials sector IR website rankings
Our recent rankings for the World's Best IR Websites™ in the materials sector focused on 62 companies. And while the industries represented — forestry, mining, steel and chemicals — are a little dull, the results certainly are anything but mundane.

Behind the scenes at our telecommunications rankings
This morning we published our rankings for the best investor relations websites in the telecommunications sector 2006. It was an interesting survey, not so much for who was included in the best sites group, but for who was not.

U.S. blue chips ill-equipped to win back investors from foreign firms
With U.S. and Canadian investors venturing abroad in search of higher returns, some large-cap companies find their stock languishing despite good profit performance. The question is, can North American IR departments win these investors back? Dominic Jones argues it won't be easy.

Obscuring disclosure with bad format choices
We look at a bizarre case of a company using a format that renders its financial statements unusable online and wonder why so many other companies do similar things.

Get ready for the mobile investor web
Dramatic changes in technology are providing new ways for companies and investors to stay in touch -- and the mobile Web should be right near the top of every IR and PR department's web plans.

Survey highlights difficulties of generational technology gap
This kind of insight can help regulators and communicators make better decisions about how to incorporate the Internet into a disclosure and consumer protection system.

Google's PowerPoint blunder was preventable
It's a classic blunder that many companies make, inadvertently leaving information in Microsoft Office documents that they don't want the outside world to see.

Does your website have a bad attitude?
Web users are much less tolerant in their online interactions because the experience is impersonal. Companies come across either as service-oriented and welcoming, or they give the impression of being aloof and disinterested.

War of the IR magazines
A heavyweight battle is being fought over Europe by mighty IR Magazine and its dynamic new rival Real IR magazine. Now it's moving into awards ceremonies...

Affluent Americans look to alternative assets
High-net worth American investors have boosted their exposure to alternative investments like hedge funds, are holding wads of cash and looking abroad for things to buy.

Top sites don't work in multiple browsers
One of the basic rules of good web design is that websites should work for users of different browser programs. However, many companies — including some that have recently won awards — are ignoring this accepted practice.

Journalists take aim at poor IR web usability
The poor state of online IR practices poses a threat to the credibility of the investor relations profession worldwide.

Survey finds analysts not into RSS, blogs or podcasts
A Thomson Financial survey of North American investment analysts has found that many are not yet using new technologies like RSS and podcasts.

NIRI's IR Update quotes IR Web Report's blogging advice
The current issue of NIRI's member magazine IR Update asks a question many investor relations departments have been asking: Do IR departments need to blog?

Philips Electronics gets annual report wrong — again
Every public company needs to think through much more carefully how it is preparing information for the Web. These decisions should not be left to chance and whim.

Introducing the Best IR Websites program
After a year of ranking investor relations websites behind closed doors, we are today coming out of the shadows with an exciting new recognition program aimed at encouraging companies to use the Internet to democratize corporate reporting information.

Response to SEC’s E-Proxy shows issuers really don’t care
Even though this proposal could save companies many millions of dollars in printing and mailing costs for proxy statements and annual reports, only a handful have written to the SEC to support it.

ADP launches electronic voting system in Japan
What the ADP release does not point out is that electronic proxy voting is not new to Japan.

Many IR websites still snubbing Firefox users
Most companies wouldn’t dream of turning customers away because they drive a particular make of car or wear one brand of shoes over another.

Icing analysts not unique to Enron
In Enron trial testimony this week, the company’s disgraced former IRO Mark Koenig told of how his bosses, former chairman Ken Lay and former CEO Jeff Skilling, sought to keep a tough analyst away from earnings calls and investor meetings because he was critical of the company.

Regulators in Canada hamper investors’ information access
Canada’s equivalent of the U.S.’s EDGAR filings repository has decided to make it just a little harder for investors to access filings.

PDF Blobs Must Die
As we come up to annual report season, it would be good for companies to pay a little more attention to how they will be publishing their reports on the Web this year. Companies which dump their annual reports in PDF blobs should know that they are undermining effective disclosure and probably costing their companies more money in the long run.

90% of S&P Global 100 Annual Reports Fail 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.

Big Companies Snub Small Shareholders
Looking at how the Dow Jones Industrials companies handle their online annual reporting, it's clear that only a handful of these companies have regard for the legions of small investors who hold their stock.