Disclosure Advisory Board Advocates Benefits of Corporate Guidance

Disclosure Advisory Board Advocates Benefits of Corporate Guidance

February 16, 2007

White Paper: Concerns That Guidance Overemphasizes
Short-Term Performance are Overblown


    NEW YORK, Feb. 16 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- PR Newswire's
Disclosure Advisory Board, a 15-person council of leaders
in the corporate, regulatory, investor, reporting and
academic communities, announced today its 2007
recommendations for disclosure and corporate guidance.

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http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070215/NYTH116 )
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http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000306/PRNLOGO )

    In a white paper titled, "Guiding Investors &
Analysts: How Much Information is Enough?" the Board
contends that guidance is beneficial to company and
investor, alike, and should be a cornerstone of all
corporate disclosure policies.

    "We at the Disclosure Advisory Board believe that
clear, consistent guidance presents significant benefits to
the global marketplace and should be a practice of all
public companies," said Mark Hynes, managing director
of Global Investor Relations Services for PR Newswire and a
member of the Disclosure Advisory Board.  "For
investors, guidance delivers a 360-degree view of a company
and helps to create an informed investment market.  For
companies, a combination of qualitative and quantitative
guidance provides the means to clearly communicate one's
business objectives and milestones in both the near and
long term.  

    "Given these assertions, the Disclosure Advisory
Board advocates a more comprehensive approach to corporate
guidance that provides a strategic, 'big picture'
perspective -- one that transcends regulatory and
compliance directives to offer investors, stakeholders and
the public at large a truly accurate depiction of a
company," Hynes added.

    Specific recommendations in the Disclosure Advisory
Board white paper include:

    * All companies - large and small - should issue
regular guidance.  
      However, guidance is not an all or nothing
proposition.  One size of 
      guidance does not fit all.

    * Guidance should provide clear, consistent
communication about an entire 
      business.  It should take into account qualitative
and quantitative 
      measures and be comprised of both company-specific
and 
      industry-specific information.  

    * Concerns that guidance overemphasizes short-term
performance are 
      overblown.  The benefits of guidance far out-weigh
the perceived risks. 

    * As financial markets around the world converge, and
more companies 
      contemplate listings outside the U.S., robust
guidance will provide 
      investors with comparable information with which to
evaluate issuers.  
      U.S. companies wishing to compete for global capital
may need to 
      consider disclosure that will put them on par with
companies based 
      elsewhere.

    * The decline in sell-side coverage is creating an
opportunity for 
      greater communication from public companies. 
According to a survey by
      the National Investor Relations Institute,
approximately 35% of NYSE 
      and NASDAQ companies have no analyst coverage.

    * Fuller disclosure can combat unwanted hedge fund
interest.  Companies 
      with concerns about the potential volatility that
hedge funds can 
      create may be able to forestall hedge fund behavior
with better 
      guidance.

    * Appropriate guidance enables companies to benefit
from fairer 
      valuations and lower capital costs.

    * Over time, good disclosure will bring integrity back
to the market.

    To learn more about the Disclosure Advisory Board and
request a copy of the complete white paper, please visit
http://disclosureadvisoryboard.mediaroom.com/.  To read
Mark Hynes' blog, go to
http://transparencymatters.blogspot.com/.

    Anna Sussman, director, Investor Relations and
Corporate Communications, Pharmion Corporation and a member
of the Disclosure Advisory Board, concluded, "Each
public company must determine the best way to tell its
story to the outside world.  Factors affecting a company's
business and its industry clearly should drive investor
communications.  That is why we recommend a more
comprehensive approach to corporate guidance.  No matter
how the market or regulations change, guidance enables
companies to exert control over how their vision and
strategy is understood by investors."

    About the Disclosure Advisory Board

    The Disclosure Advisory Board was brought together by
PR Newswire in June 2006 to assess and comment upon the
state of corporate disclosure and transparency. Comprised
of 15 individuals with a combined 450 years of regulatory
and compliance experience, the aim of the Board is to
debate current disclosure and governance issues, and based
on the discussions, propose "best practices" for
improved financial and corporate reporting. The Disclosure
Advisory Board believes that communication -- disclosure
and transparency -- lies at the heart of winning back
public consent.

    In addition to Hynes and Sussman, members of the panel
are: John Bierbusse, corporate director and retired equity
research analyst at A G Edwards; Janet Fisher, partner,
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP; Valerie Haertel,
VP/director of investor relations, Medco Health Solutions,
Inc.; Jerry Hostetter, VP/director of public relations and
investor relations, Smithfield Foods Inc.; Deborah Kelly,
partner, Genesis Inc.; Jack L. Kelly, co-head, industrial
research team, Goldman Sachs; Mary Beth Kissane, president
and founder, Corporate Perception Research; Sam Levenson,
SVP Investor Relations, Sony Corporation of America;
William A. Relyea, managing director, H.C. Wainwright &
Co., Inc.; Diane Salucci, SVP, Bear Wagner Specialists LLC;
Kurt Stocker, member of the board of directors of NYSE
Regulation, Inc. and chairman of the New York Stock
Exchange Individual Investors Advisory Committee; Louis M.
Thompson, Jr., partner, Genesis Inc., and managing
director, Kalorama Partners, and former CEO, president and
board member of the National Investor Relations Institute.

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    For more information, please contact:

     Rachel Meranus
     Vice President, Public Relations
     PR Newswire
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]


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