Investor Relations
What do Investor Relations Officers do?
What is Investor Relations?
Who do IROs work for?
CIRI
Does CIRI Have a Code of Ethics?
What is CIRI’s position on…?
What is the Canadian Investor Relations Institute?
CIRI Membership
Are there corporate memberships?
How do I become a member of CIRI?
How does the Refer a Friend Program work?
The year is half over – do I still have to pay the full amount?
What are the annual dues?
What are the benefits of a CIRI Membership?
What is a chapter membership?
What is the Optional NIRI Package (ONP)?
What do Investor Relations Officers do?
Investor relations officers interact at a company's highest levels, typically reporting to the CFO or CEO. Responsibilities include: talking with analysts, investor and media about the company's performance; establishing policies for corporate disclosure; planning and giving presentations; and writing earnings releases and annual reports.
The CIRI Board of Directors has approved the following Guidelines for Investor Relations Practitioners
What is Investor Relations?
Investor relations is the strategic management responsibility that integrates the disciplines of finance, communications and marketing to achieve an effective two-way flow of information between a public company and the investment community, in order to enable fair and efficient capital markets.
Who do IROs work for?
Most of the companies you hear about are publicly traded - Nortel, West Jet, Royal Bank of Canada, to name a few. All of these companies are represented by investor relations officers who interact with the investment community. IROs are also employed by full-service investor and public relations agencies as consultants to their corporate clients.
Does CIRI Have a Code of Ethics?
Yes. CIRI urges compliance with the following code of ethics.
As a member of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute, I will:
- Practice investor relations within the highest legal, regulatory and ethical standards.
- Exercise independent professional judgment in the conduct of my duties and responsibilities.
- Attempt to avoid even the appearance of professional impropriety in the conduct of my investor relations responsibilities.
- Keep up to date regarding the affairs of my company/clients, as well as the laws, regulations and principles affecting the practice of investor relations.
- Maintain the confidentiality of information acquired in the normal course of business.
- Not use confidential information acquired in the normal course of business for my personal advantage, nor for the advantage of others, except in the legitimate performance of my duties on behalf of my company/clients.
- Report to company authorities, the board of directors, or appropriate securities regulators, if I suspect or recognize fraudulent or illegal acts.
- Recognize that the integrity and credibility of the capital markets is based on complete, timely and non-selective disclosure of financial and non-financial corporate information and, to the best of my ability and knowledge, work to ensure that my company or client communicates such information on a timely basis.
Enforcement and Communication of CIRI'S Code of Ethics
CIRI urges compliance with its code of ethics through broad dissemination of this
document and others that enhance the understanding of investor relations. CIRI members
who are sanctioned by regulatory or judicial bodies for violating laws or regulations
in conjunction with their IR responsibilities may, upon recommendation of the CIRI
Membership Committee, have their memberships terminated by the CIRI Board of Directors,
in keeping with the provisions of CIRI's Bylaw.
CIRI Bylaw 5.6 states: "The Board shall have the power to suspend or withdraw the membership of a Member or take any other disciplinary action with regard to a Member, provided that such action must be approved by at least 67 percent of the Directors entitled to vote. The Board may establish conditions precedent or subsequent to reinstatement of the membership of any person or Member."
Approved by CIRI Board of Directors
July 2003
What is CIRI’s position on…?
CIRI's letters of comment and submissions on current and past regulatory issues and legislation may be found in the Resource section. If you have a question on a specific issue, please contact Yvette Lokker, Director, Communications & Professional Development, or either Co-Chair of the Issues Committee Elaine Wyatt or Jennifer Pierce.
What is the Canadian Investor Relations Institute?
The Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI) is a professional, non-profit organization of executives responsible for communication between the public corporation, investors and financial communities. CIRI's mandate is to meet the educational and professional development needs of its members.
Are there corporate memberships?
CIRI membership is in the name of the individual, not the employer organization. Memberships may be transferred between individuals with the written permission of the original member and a completed application from the new member ($75 transfer fee applies).
How do I become a member of CIRI?
You may apply for membership online or download the registration application and return with payment to the CIRI office by fax or mail. Upon receipt of your completed form and payment you will be sent your Membership Handbook, all CIRI publications that are free to members and your Username/Password for the CIRI website.
How does the Refer a Friend Program work?
It's simple - any current member who refers a new member to CIRI will receive a $100.00 credit valid for the calendar year it is issued in.
You are already telling people about CIRI and the many great benefits of membership, so why not reap the rewards from a referral. Direct your prospective referral to CIRI.org to apply online. Once their membership is processed you will receive a $100.00 credit.
This $100.00 credit can be used on your:
- Annual Conference registration
- Essentials of IR registration; or
- The next years annual membership renewal dues.
How Do I qualify for the Refer a Friend Program?
The new CIRI member must reference the existing CIRI member as a referral on the member application (under the section: How did you hear of CIRI?). The referral must be made when they are applying for membership. The new member cannot have been a CIRI member during the past 12 months. Existing membership transfers are not included as new members.
The new member can only reference one referring member on the application. However there is no limit on how many referrals and existing CIRI member can make in a calendar year.
Membership payment from the new member applicant must be received in full prior to the referring member receiving their credit.
This program is ongoing: however, the $100.00 credit must be redeemed during the calendar year it is issued in. The credit will be tracked by CIRI National and applied when the member advises us of which option to apply the credit to, the credit is applied after taxes.
The year is half over – do I still have to pay the full amount?
You still pay the whole membership fee, but when renewal notices are sent out in mid-November, you will be invoiced for a pro-rated amount to move your membership onto a calendar year basis.
So, for example, if you join in August 2009, your membership is valid through to August 2010. When renewal invoices are mailed in November 2009, you will receive an invoice for September - December 2010 only.
What are the annual dues?
Membership in CIRI is $570 + GST
There is an additional $75 + GST fee for processing a new or transferred membership.
What are the benefits of a CIRI Membership?
As a member of CIRI, you will have the opportunity to share your experience and draw upon the wisdom of other CIRI members. You will have a role in Canada’s only organization dedicated to advancing the practice of investor relations.
Members of CIRI stay on top of their profession through access to timely and relevant information. Issue Bulletins on regulatory issues that affect the practice of Investor Relations are delivered by email. Newsline, our bimonthly publication, provides an in-depth look at topics of importance to IROs. A wealth of information can be found in CIRI’s many publications and surveys –many free or discounted for members. Membership also grants you full access to the articles and information on this website.
Professional Development programs compliment CIRI’s archive of knowledge by providing current information from expert speakers. CIRI members enjoy reduced rates for all our programs.
What is a chapter membership?
Chapters of CIRI are located in British Columbia (Vancouver), Alberta (Calgary), Ontario (Toronto) and Quebec (Montreal).
Each chapter holds its own programs with guest speakers on timely and informative topics. These meetings may be held with a breakfast, luncheon or dinner. Half-day workshops and seminars are also planned.
Chapter members can attend these meetings at a reduced rate. Chapters will, from time to time, provide extra value to their members through Chapter member-only events, by providing free publications, or through draws and contests open only to the Chapter members.
Chapter membership is an additional $95 + GST.
What is the Optional NIRI Package (ONP)?
In 1998, CIRI entered into a Strategic Alliance with NIRI, which allows CIRI members the option to purchase a selected package of NIRI services consisting of:
electronic distribution:
- IR Update;
- IR Weekly;
- IR Advisor;
- seminar and conference announcements;
- Executive Alerts including NIRI Survey Results.
member rates on:
- all NIRI seminars and conferences;
- NIRI publications.
Other:
- unlimited free attendance to Member Benefit Webinars.
Please note that access to the member section of NIRI's Web site is NOT included in the Optional NIRI Package (ONP).
The Optional NIRI Package is an additional $225 + GST.
