What does it take to get new shareholders and keep them loyal? The incentives discussed in this issue’s cover story (page 29) may seem like weak substitutes for what investors really want. Like the child who asks for peace on earth instead of toys for Christmas, investors today want the simple things in life – a company that will stay out of chapter 11 for the next little while. Or one that can prevent a rogue employee from losing half the year’s profits. Or just one whose finances are transparent enough to stop mere rumors of hidden debt from crashing the stock.
Car rental discounts or chewing gum are nice, but they don’t mean much more than the hollow promises in last year’s Enron annual report (see page 25). How long until employee shareholders get excited again about easy ways to invest their 401Ks in their own company’s stock? Or for investors to feel good about perks that seem more like acts of desperation than declarations of confidence?
No matter how loyal a shareholder base you may have cultivated, it’s crunch time now. The only way to keep investors incentivized is to answer their questions. It’s not easy. The heat of Q&A during earnings calls and annual meetings must make an IRO feel like Buzz Lightyear facing off against Emperor Zurg. How do you answer a question, which you don’t know the answer to, without making it seem like you’re evading the question?
Just for starters, investors want to know if your auditor also does consulting for you – like Andersen was wont to do – and how much both kinds of work cost. How about off-balance-sheet activities like leasing and securitization and how they’re accounted for? (For your and your shareholders’ sake, the answer to any queries on SPEs, the bane of Enron, better be ‘never touch ’em.’) Employee share options: how much of an overhang, and how much did they actually cost you this year? (Or rather, what would be the effect on profit if the FASB hadn’t backed down on that point?) Finally, how are you at revenue recognition? Pray that you’re not following in Global Crossing’s footsteps, booking profits today against costs in the future.
You would do well to follow SEC chairman Harvey Pitt’s diktat to auditors: zero in on five factors that would make the biggest difference to your bottom line, then show how the numbers would look under these different assumptions. Come up with all the answers and your reward really will be loyal shareholders, and maybe even peace on earth – or at least peace in your own little world.
