Being Public

The good folks at Deloitte recently put out a wonderful whitepaper on "being public" - did you see it? While not directly addressing the communications aspects of the issue, there's a lot of great takeaways for IROs (or those that play them on TV). Among other gems, I really liked: "... proper planning prevents poor performance."  Might have to get that as a tattoo.

It does seem odd to me that so more companies - and/or the law firms, iBankers, auditors that counsel them through this process - still leave IR preparation until the very end of the process (or to chance altogether). As we've discussed here before, IR programs/functions are not built in a day... there is a compliance mechanism to put into place... there is a marketing component that needs to be developed and aligned with the business strategy... there are policies to adopt and embed...  there are people to train... there are protocols to put into place... there are tools to develop... believe me, it's much easier to do (and do well) when you've got the 12 to 24 month window that Deloitte references than the two weeks following the road show.

Thoughts as to why IR is left to the last minute?