Conferences for Practitioners

At the DIRK General Meeting on Friday, October 25, 2019 in Hamburg, the Center for Research in Financial Communication provided insights into the research project on success and value measurement in Investor Relations.

The study addresses the challenge of making the success of investor relations work tangible - and thus further strengthening its legitimacy base. It summarizes the current state of the still young field of research in the sucess and value measurement of investor relations, shows the challenges of the evaluation and provides an overview of communication and financial measurement instruments. Finally, recommendations are made to advance the measurement of success and value added in investor relations.

The full study is available here.

At the 2nd Geschäftsberichtesymposium on 08./09./10. October 2019, the Center for Research in Financial Communication gave exclusive insights into the current Corporate Reporting Monitor study.

Key findings are: Only one-third of the companies surveyed set the focal points of communication strategy in their reporting. Important topics of the coming years will be digitization, regulation and integrated reporting. Despite a great deal of effort, reporting is rarely evaluated.

At the 22. Conference of the DIRK - German Investor Relations Association on 03.-04. June 2019, the Center for Research in Financial Communication provided insights into the research project on Integrated Financial Communication.

The full study "Integrated Financial Communication - An Analysis of the cooperation between Corporate Communications and Investor Relations with regards to Financial Communication" is available here.

As part of the DIRK general meeting on 23 February 2018 in Düsseldorf, Prof. Christian HOffmann presented the results of the CRiFC study "Strategies in Investor Relations and Financial Communications" - a broad empirical study among companies listed in the Prime Standard.

Decision-makers in Investor Relations and Corporate Communications were asked about strategic communication management. The results point to the strategic importance of financial communication - even if there are still gaps in strategic management of the function. Furthermore, three types of investor relations and financial communication strategies at German stock corporations were identified in the available data.

As part of the DIRK workshop "Digital IR trends 2018" on 25 January 2018, Sandra Tietz gave a first insights into the research project "Digital Leadership in Investor Relations". The results of the first phase of the phase were enthusiatically discussed with representatives of investor relations departments.

More information is available here

On 30 June 2017, Prof. Christian Hoffmann and other experts will discuss the future of money at the international conference. Among other things, topics such as alternatives like “bitcoin” and “blockchain” by which startups and technology companies are revolutionizing the money and banking world.

More information is available at www.geldkonferenz.de

Based on a recent study by the University of Leipzig, an empirically grounded task framework describing the role of the CFO in financial communication was introduced and reviewed by a communication practitioner the workshop at the 20. DIRK conference on 13 June 2017 in Frankfurt. Furthermore, the implications for investor relations were discussed with the participants of the workshop.

Participants of the workshop:

• Dr. Markus Talanow, Spokesperson Financial Communications at Merck KGaA
• Sebastian Keßler, Group Communication and Policies at BMW AG and Graduate of the Master program „Communication Management“ at the University of Leipzig
• Prof. Dr. Christian P. Hoffmann, University of Leipzig & Center for Research in Financial Communication

The presentation of the workshop is available here.

Integrated Reporting is currently generating curiosity and uncertainty at the same time. Is it a reporting approach or rather a management concept? How important is this for investors? The presentation by Prof. Dr. Christian Hoffmann provided insights in current findings on the advantages and challenges of Integrated Reporting.

Please find the complete presentation here.

Based on the presentation there was a follow-up discussion on “Integrated Thinking in Investment”. Various perspectives on the integration of ESG data into investment decisions as well as international differences in sustainable investments were presented.

Participants were:

• Marissa Blankenship, Allianz GI
• Steve Monnier, BlackRock
• Prof. Dr. Christian P. Hoffmann, University of Leipzig
• Moderation: Katharina Beyersdorfer, DIRK

 The use of AGM internet services is stagnating. Central shareholder platforms are designed to increase attractiveness for investors. However, what advantages do they offer for the issuer?

The workshop at the DIRK conference included three brief presentations followed by a joint discussion:

• Presentation of study among DACH companies with regard to the advantages and disadvantages of own AGM internet dialogue systems vs. shareholder platforms
• Experiences by an Swiss issuer on shareholder platforms
• Internet dialogue/platform solutions and their capabilities

Participants:

• Prof. Dr. Christian P. Hoffmann, Center for Research in Financial Communication
• Roman Bühler, Sherpany AG
• Marcus Händel, Valiant Bank AG

The video of the workshop is available here.