Investor Relations

This overview course provides an introduction and orientation to the profession of Investor Relations. Lectures, discussions and cases will focus on what knowledge, abilities, and characteristics are required for the successful IR professional. Discussions will illustrate ways in which IR officers successfully communicate their company's story to Wall Street. Topics include: The role of IR; disciplines relevant to the IR function; fundamentals of communications and disclosure; industry and company analysis; strategic objectives of an IR program.

A required course in the Certificate Program in Investor Relations. An overview of the investment markets, this course examines the menu of securities available in today's market and the attributes of the various types of securities. It will also examine the purpose of capital markets, capitalization structure, how domestic and global securities markets work, the trend toward globalization of the capital markets, the organized exchanges for stocks and bonds and securities trading, the mechanics of the buy-side/ sell-side, the role of investment bankers and brokers, derivatives, and other related topics.

Investing is a process that involves anticipating future outcomes based on information and knowledge that exist today. By analyzing past performance and other relevant information pertaining to an investment opportunity, you can make calculated predictions of how that opportunity will perform in the future. This course shows you how this process works and how you can apply rational techniques to assess risk and make good investment decisions. Topics include accounting practices and principles, financial analysis techniques, evaluating information sources and their relevancy, evaluating and managing risk, valuation, and pools of funds and their objectives.

A required course in the Certificate Program in Investor Relations. This course focuses on the corporation's external environment and its resulting legal and social responsibilities. Topics include relevant federal and state legislation, the role of the courts and legal decisions, securities regulations and their interpretations, disclosure requirements, corporate governance, and social responsibility.

This course focuses on understanding the communications environment involved in creating a dialogue between publicly held companies and their investor constituents, and developing the communications skills needed by the investor relations professional in dealing with the investment community. Topics include targeted research to identify potential audiences; gathering of financial and industry information for development of corporate messaging; planning and implementation of communications vehicles to be used in outreach programs to investors; and development of long-term relationships with key investor constituents. The entire communications process will be presented in the context of disclosure and materiality issues, including the legal framework within which investor relations professionals must necessarily operate.

A required course in the Certificate Program in Investor Relations. This capstone course includes topics such as structuring an IR program, shareholder relations, the two-dimensional role of the IR function, the position of the IR professional in the management structure, recent changes in the profession, and the impact of technological advances, especially as they pertain to information gathering, analysis, and communication. Students will be required to complete an integrative mini-project which will be decided upon by consultation with the instructor.

The single most important decision in portfolio management is that of asset allocation: how much should be invested in each security to achieve a desired level of return while minimizing investment risk? Economist Harry Markowitz offered an answer with the Markowitz Efficient Portfolio. This course covers the theory of Dr. Markowitz' work, and has the students develop their own efficient portfolio models in Microsoft Excel. Along the way, the students will learn about expected values, measuring risk, correlation of returns, probability distributions, and how a portfolio of securities can have lower risk than that of any of the individual securities.

Determine what it is you want your Web site to do, then learn how to make your site accomplish those objectives. Strategic use of the Internet can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your overall marketing program when you know what options are available to you in terms of techniques and tools. Learn how you can use your Web site as a research tool, selling tool, and communications tool. Discover how to develop and use your Web site to provide customer service, test new products, and obtain marketing research information. This course is a must for marketing professionals who must collect and analyze market data to develop strategies that increase sales.

This Regulations 101 online portion is an optional add-on to the Regulations 101 on-site seminar offered through the National Investor Relations Institute. Become your company's in-house expert on regulations and court decisions that define investor relations. The on-site seminar provides a comprehensive overview of regulations and court decisions that impact financial disclosure, governance issues, self-regulating organizations (NYSE and NASDAQ) reporting requirements, civil and criminal liabilities. This course goes beyond text book instruction to provide small group discussion and application of regulatory issues to hypothetical cases. Topics include: Reg FD - and how recent court decisions have interpreted the regulation; Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg G - the impact on your investor relations program; Corporate governance issues that impact investor relations; Reporting requirements of public companies, the agencies responsible, and how SEC requirements differ from those of the self-regulating organizations (SROs); Periodic filings - all the reports that public companies must file with the SEC changes we can anticipate. Please visit www.niri.org to register for the on-site seminar.

Effective writing is a powerful tool in the business environment. Learn how to articulate your thoughts clearly, concisely and with a style that gets your writing read. Improve your skill at using this powerful instrument by learning to select and use appropriate formats, use the correct medium and adjust your writing style accordingly, as well as identify your objective and communicate it clearly. You'll also learn to spot, avoid and correct the most common writing pitfalls and gain valuable experience analyzing, writing and revising a complete spectrum of business documents. From a simple interoffice memo to a twenty-page business proposal, learn how to put good writing to work for you.

The stock market can be an alternative for investors who are willing to assume a greater risk. This advanced course allows you to take your knowledge of this volatile market to a higher level. Learn how to guide your clients in making more informed choices by using practical analysis to buy publicly traded businesses. You will learn methods for industry research, financial statement analysis and specific company valuation. Several case studies give you practical, hands-on experience in selecting and applying the analytical techniques appropriate for a variety of companies and industries. This course is vital for financial planning professionals who will be working with sophisticated clients and complex investment portfolios.