InsuranceIR's Blog

I’m on record that I believe the filed documents – in particular the 10-Ks and 10-Qs – should be integrated with the investor communications effort.  At many companies, the first step is making them a resource for the investor relations team.

Yesterday, WebFilings hosted a webinar on that topic — “Using the 10-K to Enhance the Investor Relations Effort.”

On the webinar, I made a few related points that I think should be top of mind for all IR teams:

• Management attention – CEOs and CFOs are engaged in the process. They have “direct and personal accountability” for the 10-K and 10-Q content, which means these documents often offer investors important insight into business strategy and outlook, even if that information is buried is fairly dry prose.
• SEC focus – The SEC wants consistency in communications, inside and outside the filings. Using the 10-K as a resource for news releases, scripts and other materials helps foster a consistent message.
• Reg FD compliant – Material in a published 10-K is already full disclosed.  With a few caveats, largely related to “guidance” items, there is little FD risk in using material from the 10-K.
• (at least some) Investor read the filed documents – The investors who read these materials consider the information to be important.  They trade on it and use it to shape their views. When the IR team uses the 10-K as a resource, it makes sure those strategic messages are shared more broadly.

The presentation is available for download on SlideShare.

An audio replay of the webinar will be available in the archived webinars section of the WebFilings site.

Full Disclosure: In November, I posted an item about WebFilings and the potential value of their tool for investor relations. I have no business relationship with WebFilings, but they have been kind enough to continue to talk with me about ways in which we can share resources to achieve our respective objectives, such as this webinar.

Filed under: Investor Relations |