IR Leader
June 30, 2015

You Be the Judge!

CIRI is one of the three judging organizations for the CPA's Awards of Excellence in Corporate Reporting and we are looking for CIRI members to volunteer as judges to take part in this year's competition. As a CIRI judge, you'll be asked to spend a few hours over the summer reviewing some of Canada's best annual reports and have the chance to pick up some good ideas for your own report along the way.

To find out more, please contact Jane Maciel, CIRI Head Judge, at (416) 364-8200 or jmaciel@ciri.org.
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Invest In Your Career! Be CIRI Certified

Recognizing the need for formal education in the field of investor relations, CIRI and the Ivey Business School (Ivey) have developed a program that covers all relevant areas of this multidisciplinary role including capital markets, corporate governance, securities law, finance and communications.

This program is intended for experienced investor relations professionals, individuals working closely with investor relations professionals, and individuals who have corporate experience in a related field and are interested in gaining a solid understanding of the investor relations role.

For more information about Certification, contact Salisha Hosein or visit the Certification section on CIRI.org. 

2015 CIRI/Ivey Finance and Accounting Tutorial

Sunday, September 27, 2015
Toronto, ON

The objective of this tutorial is to provide a crash course on transactional analysis and the accounting cycle, including the preparation of the balance sheet and an income statement. Many of the fundamental accounting concepts, including money measurement, entity concept, going-concern concept, matching concept, etc., will be discussed as well as the difference between accrual accounting and cash flow. In addition, time value of money will be discussed in order to understand the basics of valuation.

For more information on the Finance and Accounting Tutorial, click here. | Complete Article |

Top Stories

The Day the Wrappers Died...

September 8, 2015 may go down in history as the 'day the wrappers died' - for U.S. broker-dealers who sell foreign securities into Canada on a private placement basis, for the Canadian investors who purchase these securities and for the lawyers who advise them.

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Tips & Traps When Talking to Potential Investors

The fundraising process requires countless hours to develop and refine an investor pitch. While the majority of that time will be focused on how to find and raise money from the best investors on the best terms, it is critical to remember that there are limits to what can be said and done under applicable securities laws. Failure to comply with securities laws can be a trap for the unwary - with potential consequences that include the right of an investor to ask for his or her money back. While the laws are complex, understanding a few basic concepts can go a long way.

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OSC Whistleblower Roundtable Provides Food for Thought

On June 9, 2015 the OSC hosted a roundtable discussion (the 'Roundtable') on its proposed whistleblower program framework, OSC Staff Consultation Paper 15-401 - Proposed Framework for an OSC Whistleblower Program (the 'Whistleblower Program').

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Moving Away from a Mechanistic Evaluation of Board Term Limits

Earlier this month, Robert Pozen, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School contended that a simple reliance on board term limits as an evaluation tool of corporate performance is based on "faulty logic".

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Canada and France: Will Legislative Changes Reduce Hostile Bids?

While the Canadian Securities Administrators' (CSA) proposed changes to the hostile take-over bid regime have been discussed extensively in Canada, a series of similar legislative changes in France have received relatively little coverage. Although attained by different means, both changes point towards a potential shift in power from hostile bidders and activist shareholders to target boards. While the full extent of these changes have yet to materialize, an understanding of both regimes will help readers analyze their impacts and apply them to the Canadian context.

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Canada's New Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act and its Implications for Companies Subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

On June 1, 2015, Canada's Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act ('ESTMA' or 'the Act') came into force. Approved in December 2014, but not in force until this month, the Act requires companies in the extractive sector to report annually on certain payments made to any level of government - including payments made to employees of state-owned corporations - both in Canada and abroad.

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CCGG Issues 2014 Annual Report

The Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) has released its 2014 annual report setting out its governance priorities and projects for 2015/16.

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Five Steps to Revenue Recognition Tax Woes

Already so complex that the Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed extending the compliance deadline for its new revenue recognition regime by a year, the updated standard could trigger another burdensome source of complexity for corporate taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service says.

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Companies Raise the Bar for Golden Parachutes

Few firms remain that pay severance to executives only upon a change in control; a termination of employment is also now a standard requirement.

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Getting a Seat at the Table: Proxy Access is Coming to Canada

The topic of proxy access, or the ability of shareholders to nominate directors to the board, has again come to the fore of the Canadian corporate governance debate.

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Raising Capital for your Business? New Pathways Open in Canada with the Adoption of Startup Crowdfunding Registration and Prospectus Exemptions

The long awaited startup crowdfunding exemptions have now been adopted in six Canadian provinces.

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