Investor Relations

34INVESTOR RELATIONSWhile there are no set rules on the IR department’s involvement in day-to-dayactivities, it should consistently be consulted, as early as possible, beforeany financial or strategic communications are sent out to audiences thatare not under its direct responsibility: board of directors, audit committee,employee shareholders, and the press.It will closely work with the finance division: Together, they willensure that the indicators used internally to measure performance andoperating efficiency are consistent with those disclosed to the financialmarkets. This consistency is an essential parameter in assessing shareholdervalue.2.3.3.2 Building internal awareness ofInvestor RelationsThe IR department will also work with the finance, legal, personnel andemployee relations, and internal communications divisions, among others,in the following areas: Maintaining awareness and understanding of, as well as compliancewith, legal obligations governing the dissemination of information to thirdparties. This is particularly important that everyone within the company beaware of regulations set out by market authorities and laws on insider tradingand price-sensitive information. Broadening executives’ and operations managers’ understandingof Investor Relations beyond the scope of financial and strategic informationon account of the fact that regulations relative to price-sensitiveinformation cover a much wider—and more volatile—range of data thanjust quantitative information as reported in the consolidated financialstatements. IROs build solid internal networks by relaying to operationsmanagers what they hear about the competition through discussions withfinancial analysts. Their awareness-building efforts will notably pay offwhen meetings are organized between operations teams and analysts, asthe former will know which information is appropriate for them to giveto outside parties. Promoting public company behavior in the corporate culture. Inparticular, this involves adopting a proactive customer–supplier attitude inthe relationships the company maintains with financial markets. This notablyimplies that internal communications—and particularly newsletters—are consistent with the messages delivered outside the company. Fostering the adoption of a more international approach tocommunications, particularly by promoting communication in English if itis not the company’s official language. This may also be lead to publishingInvestor Relations documents in the languages of countries where the