IR Website Basics

Regulators view your IR site as an extension of all your public communications.

And just like all of your press releases and filings need to be made in a timely manner, your IR site needs to be easy to find, accessible at any time, and built on an infrastructure that can handle substantial web traffic.

Regulators view everything on your IR site as a communication from you. It’s your responsibility, which means being mindful of entanglement issues or “blessing” content from third parties.

Linking to a favorable analyst report with glowing commentary around its veracity is a no-no: “Check out this incredible recent report by InvestorBank on our revenue growth and future prospects!”

Linking to analyst reports with general commentary, acknowledging that it’s a third-party, is probably just fine: “InvestorBank’s February report on our fourth quarter is available on their website.”

Regulators may also take issue if you link selectively to favorable analyst coverage and avoid negative coverage.

Other potential issues can arise in endorsing Social Media streams. For example, including a Stocktwits stream of your ticker’s mention can open the risk that regulators see this as endorsed content. And people say some crazy things online!

The bottom line is to be mindful of inadvertently endorsing any third-party content.

A Disclaimer

Your IR site should include an easy-to-find disclaimer, accomplished at TickerPilot with a Footer link and clean, compliant disclosure statement.

Importantly, if your Disclaimer is a separate PDF file, or you’re hosting any other kind of PDF file like an investor Presentation, that file must have its own disclaimer.

SEC Filings, Including Raw XBRL Files

A list of up-to-date SEC filings, including the raw XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) data, is now a requirement on your website. Filings must generally also be on your website within the same day or within 24 hours of the time that they’re filed.

Requirements vary by filing type: some must be entirely on your site, others can be links to the SEC’s website.

TickerPilot makes this easy with a comprehensive list of all filings on your site, updated in real-time.

Of course, most investors aren’t parsing your filings with the XBRL language, which is why convenient HTML or PDF files are a must for effective communications. At TickerPilot, we prefer HTML access, which allows investors to read your filings in their browser rather than opening a PDF viewer, or worse for users, requiring the download of a PDF.

Financial Info, Public Disclosures, and Governance

Keeping all of your company press releases and financial statements, particularly non-GAAP statements, on your site is a must.

TickerPilot automatically pulls your press releases and quarterly statements into an organized, navigable list.

Your corporate governance details, including board composition and contact information, should also be easy to find and accessible for all investors and visitors.

Digital proxy materials are more common than ever, but did you know these materials must be hosted on a site that does not “track” your visitors? Putting proxy materials on a site that does that does not include tracking cookies is an SEC requirement today.

The Bottom Line on IR Site Compliance

At the end of the day, remember that your IR site is an extension of your company, and all of the usual SEC requirements (prompt disclosure, easy access, independence) apply.

But your company is also unique, and we know that your legal team will have its own “musts” and “asks.” TickerPilot’s team makes add-ons and integrations easy, and we can handle even your lawyers’ most nit-picky requests.